It cost at least $2.4 million to deploy a single Canadian aircraft to search for the Titanic submersible that went missing last month.
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CP-140 Aurora took off from Nova Scotia soon after Canadian authorities were notified of the incident on the evening of June 18. Over the next three-and-a-half days, crews aboard the Aurora conducted a visual search and dropped hundreds of sub-detecting “sonobuoys” to listen for the missing Titan, which likely suffered a “catastrophic implosion” before the search even began.
According to a Department of National Defence spokesperson, it costs $29,662 per hour to operate the Aurora, which logged 82.5 hours of flight time, making the total amount more than $2.4 million. The 341 sonobuoys that were used may cost more than $1,300 each, according to federal procurement records. Together, that could mean the Aurora’s role in the mission cost taxpayers nearly $3 million.
“Undoubtedly this effort will run into the multi-millions considering the specialized resources expended,” search and rescue expert Graham Newbold told CTVNews.ca after the search ended.
Newbold was a RCAF pilot as well as a search and rescue mission coordinator before becoming a professor of public safety at Algonquin College in Ottawa. Canadian assets that joined the Aurora included ships such as the Royal Canadian Navy’s HMCS Glace Bay and the Canadian Coast Guard’s John Cabot, Terry Fox and helicopter-equipped Ann Harvey.
“In Canada (search and rescue) operations prioritize saving lives and ensuring public safety,” Newbold said. “The focus is on rescuing individuals in distress rather than determining who will bear the financial responsibility for the operation.”
THE AURORA AT A GLANCE
The propeller-driven Aurora is a long-range patrol aircraft that can take on a variety of roles, including search and rescue, reconnaissance and submarine detection.
While there are several types of sonobuoys, most of the ones the Aurora launched for this mission are designed to listen for signs of submarines lurking in the sea.
“Sonobuoys are equipped with a detachable flotation device with an antenna enabling data relay back to the aircraft,” the Defence Department spokesperson explained. “The hydrophones submerge on a line attached to the flotation device, and spool to an operator-selected depth.”
During the operation, hopes were briefly raised when crew aboard the Aurora detected recurring “banging” noises in the ocean, although these were ultimately determined to be unrelated to the missing submersible. A U.S. Navy sub-detecting acoustic system reportedly picked up an “anomaly” on the morning of June 18 that was likely the Titan’s fatal implosion.
The Aurora deployed three types of sonobuoys during the search, the majority of which were the AN/SSQ-53D from Ultra Electronics Maritime Systems in Dartmouth, N.S. Both the company and Canada’s Department of National Defence would not disclose a per-item cost.
While CTVNews.ca was unable to find procurement contracts that specifically mention the device, similar purchase agreements with a U.S. company in 2022 and 2013 show sonobuoys such as these can easily cost more than US$1,000, or C$1,300, per item. With 341 sonobuoys deployed, this makes it possible that an additional $443,300 were spent on the search, bringing the estimated total from more than $2.4 million to nearly $2.9 million.
“The cost of the contracts also typically includes all of the extras such as transportation, sometimes in-service support, replacement pieces,” the Canadian defence spokesperson wrote in an email. “For the cost of the Aurora, the RCAF budgets each operational fleet of aircraft’s yearly flying rate (YFR) based on assumed training and operational tasks. These tasks include missions like support to search and rescue and as such there is no additional cost incurred.”
The defence spokesperson said a total cost for the mission won’t be available until August or September. Unlike the figure calculated by CTVNews.ca, the Department of National Defence’s numbers will only include “incremental costs” and not those that fall under normal operating budgets, such as regular salaries and existing equipment like sonobuoys.
WHO PAYS FOR SEARCH AND RESCUE?
Operated by OceanGate, the Titan submersible lost contact with the surface less than two hours after it plunged into the ocean on the morning of June 18 during a tourist expedition to the infamous Titanic wreck. Reported missing nearly eight hours later, an international round-the-clock air and sea effort searched for the sub approximately 700 kilometres southeast of St John’s, N.L. until a remotely operated underwater vehicle located its imploded remnants near the Titanic on the morning of June 22. Experts say the Titan’s experimental design and carbon-fibre hull likely made it unable to withstand the immense pressure of the deep ocean where the Titanic rests at 3,800 metres below sea level. All five people aboard the Titan were killed, including OceanGate’s CEO.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is now investigating the incident. Costs associated with the U.S.-led search and rescue effort will likely be covered by American and Canadian taxpayers.
“On the high seas, international maritime law, such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), establishes obligations for nations regarding search and rescue at sea,” Newbold, the former Canadian search and rescue pilot, said. “According to UNCLOS, all states have a duty to render assistance to any person in distress at sea, regardless of nationality or status. This duty is primarily based on humanitarian grounds.”
The Defence Department spokesperson said the cost of operating the navy’s HMCS Glace Bay is about $47,000 per sailing day, and that the ship supported the mission for six to seven hours on June 22. The Canadian Coast Guard would not release similar cost estimates, and added that it does not seek reimbursement for search and rescue missions.
“Responding to incidents is part of our overall daily operations, and as a result it would be difficult to calculate and allocate costs on a case-by-case basis,” a Canadian Coast Guard spokesperson told CTVNews.ca after the operation. “We are part of the Canadian search and rescue system which operates under international conventions, agreements and domestic regulations to provide protection for all mariners who find themselves in danger at sea.”
Aldo Chircop is a maritime law expert and legal professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
“There is a humanitarian duty for states to provide assistance to persons in distress at sea,” Chircop told CTVNews.ca. “It is a longstanding custom and rule of the international law of the sea, international maritime law, and international humanitarian law.”
Montreal Alouettes wide receiver Tyson Philpot has announced he will be out for the rest of the CFL season.
The Delta, B.C., native posted the news on his Instagram page Thursday.
“To Be Continued. Shoutout my team, the fans of the CFL and the whole city of Montreal! I can’t wait to be back healthy and write this next chapter in 2025,” the statement read.
Philpot, 24, injured his foot in a 33-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Aug. 10 and was placed on the six-game injured list the next week.
The six-foot-one, 195-pound receiver had 58 receptions, 779 yards and five touchdowns in nine games for the league-leading Alouettes in his third season.
Philpot scored the game-winning touchdown in Montreal’s Grey Cup win last season to punctuate a six-reception, 63-yard performance.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sustained a concussion for the third time in his NFL career, leaving his team’s game Thursday night against Buffalo after running into defensive back Damar Hamlin and hitting the back of his head against the turf.
Tagovailoa remained down for about two minutes before getting to his feet and walking to the sideline after the play in the third quarter. He made his way to the tunnel not long afterward, looking into the stands before smiling and departing toward the locker room.
The Dolphins needed almost no time before announcing it was a concussion. The team said he had two during the 2022 season, and Tagovailoa was diagnosed with another concussion when he was a college player at Alabama.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa would get “proper procedural evaluation” and “appropriate care” on Friday.
“The furthest thing from my mind is, ‘What is the timeline?’ We just need to evaluate and just worry about my teammate, like the rest of the guys are,” McDaniel said. “We’ll get more information tomorrow and take it day by day from here.”
Some players saw Tagovailoa in the locker room after the game and said they were encouraged. Tagovailoa spoke with some players and then went home after the game, McDaniel said.
“I have a lot of love for Tua, built a great relationship with him,” said quarterback Skylar Thompson, who replaced Tagovailoa after the injury. “You care about the person more than the player and everybody in the organization would say the same thing. Just really praying for Tua and hopefully everything will come out all right.”
Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $212 million extension before this season — a deal that makes him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL — and was the NFL’s leading passer in Week 1 this season. Tagovailoa left with the Dolphins trailing 31-10, and that was the final score.
“If you know Tua outside of football, you can’t help but feel for him,” Bills quarterback Josh Allen said on Amazon following the game. “He’s a great football player but he’s an even greater human being. He’s one of the best humans on the planet. I’ve got a lot of love for him and I’m just praying for him and his family, hoping everything’s OK. But it’s tough, man. This game of football that we play, it’s got its highs and it’s got its lows — and this is one of the lows.”
Tagovailoa’s college years and first three NFL seasons were marred by injury, though he positioned himself for a big pay bump with an injury-free and productive 2023 as he led the Dolphins into the playoffs. He threw for 29 touchdowns and a league-best 4,624 yards last year.
When, or if, he can come back this season is anyone’s guess. Tagovailoa said in April 2023 that the concussions he had in the 2022 season left him contemplating his playing future. “I think I considered it for a time,” he said then, when asked if he considered stepping away from the game to protect himself.
McDaniel said it’s not his place to say if Tagovailoa should return to football. “He’ll be evaluated and we’ll have conversations and progress as appropriate,” McDaniel said.
Tagovailoa was hurt Thursday on a fourth-down keeper with about 4:30 left in the third. He went straight ahead into Hamlin and did not slide, leading with his right shoulder instead.
Hamlin was the player who suffered a cardiac arrest after making a tackle during a Monday night game in January 2023 at Cincinnati, causing the NFL to suspend a pivotal game that quickly lost significance in the aftermath of a scary scene that unfolded in front of a national television audience.
Tagovailoa wound up on his back, both his hands in the air and Bills players immediately pointed at him as if to suggest there was an injury. Dolphins center Aaron Brewer quickly did the same, waving to the sideline.
Tagovailoa appeared to be making a fist with his right hand as he lay on the ground. It was movement consistent with something that is referred to as the “fencing response,” which can be common after a traumatic brain injury.
Tagovailoa eventually got to his feet. McDaniel grabbed the side of his quarterback’s head and gave him a kiss on the cheek as Tagovailoa departed. Thompson came into the game to take Tagovailoa’s spot.
“I love Tua on and off the football field,” Bills edge Von Miller said. “I’m a huge fan of him. I can empathize and sympathize with him because I’ve been there. I wish him the best.”
Tagovailoa’s history with concussions — and how he has since worked to avoid them — is a huge part of the story of his career, and now comes to the forefront once again.
He had at least two concussions during the 2022 season. He was hurt in a Week 3 game against Buffalo and cleared concussion protocol, though he appeared disoriented on that play but returned to the game.
The NFL later changed its concussion protocol to mandate that if a player shows possible concussion symptoms — including a lack of balance or stability — he must sit out the rest of the game.
Less than a week later, in a Thursday night game at Cincinnati, Tagovailoa was concussed on a scary hit that briefly knocked him unconscious and led to him being taken off the field on a stretcher.
His second known concussion of that season came in a December game against Green Bay, and he didn’t play for the rest of the 2022 season. After that, Tagovailoa began studying ways where he may be able to fall more safely and protect himself against further injury — including studying jiu-jitsu.
“I’m not worried about anything that’s out of my hands,” McDaniel said. “I’m just worried about the human being.”
NEW YORK (AP) — When her husband turns on the television to hear news about the upcoming presidential election, that’s often a signal for Lori Johnson Malveaux to leave the room.
It can get to be too much. Often, she’ll go to a TV in another room to watch a movie on the Hallmark Channel or BET. She craves something comforting and entertaining. And in that, she has company.
While about half of Americans say they are following political news “extremely” or “very” closely, about 6 in 10 say they need to limit how much information they consume about the government and politics to avoid feeling overloaded or fatigued, according to a new survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts.
Make no mistake: Malveaux plans to vote. She always does. “I just get to the point where I don’t want to hear the rhetoric,” she said.
The 54-year-old Democrat said she’s most bothered when she hears people on the news telling her that something she saw with her own eyes — like the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — didn’t really happen.
“I feel like I’m being gaslit. That’s the way to put it,” she said.
Sometimes it feels like ‘a bombardment’
Caleb Pack, 23, a Republican from Ardmore, Oklahoma, who works in IT, tries to keep informed through the news feeds on his phone, which is stocked with a variety of sources, including CNN, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press.
Yet sometimes, Pack says, it seems like a bombardment.
“It’s good to know what’s going on, but both sides are pulling a little bit extreme,” he said. “It just feels like it’s a conversation piece everywhere, and it’s hard to escape it.”
Media fatigue isn’t a new phenomenon. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in late 2019 found roughly two in three Americans felt worn out by the amount of news there is, about the same as in a poll taken in early 2018. During the 2016 presidential campaign, about 6 in 10 people felt overloaded by campaign news.
But it can be particularly acute with news related to politics. The AP-NORC/USAFacts poll found that half of Americans feel a need to limit their consumption of information related to crime or overseas conflicts, while only about 4 in 10 are limiting news about the economy and jobs.
It’s easy to understand, with television outlets like CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC full of political talk and a wide array of political news online, sometimes complicated by disinformation.
“There’s a glut of information,” said Richard Coffin, director of research and advocacy for USAFacts, “and people are having a hard time figuring out what is true or not.”
Women are more likely to feel they need to limit media
In the AP-NORC poll, about 6 in 10 men said they follow news about elections and politics at least “very” closely, compared to about half of women. For all types of news, not just politics, women are more likely than men to report the need to limit their media consumption, the survey found.
White adults are also more likely than Black or Hispanic adults to say they need to limit media consumption on politics, the poll found.
Kaleb Aravzo, 19, a Democrat, gets a baseline of news by listening to National Public Radio in the morning at home in Logan, Utah. Too much politics, particularly when he’s on social media sites like TikTok and Instagram, can trigger anxiety and depression.
“If it pops up on my page when I’m on social media,” he said, “I’ll just scroll past it.”
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Sanders reported from Washington. David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.
The AP poll of 1,019 adults was conducted July 29-August 8, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.
