Glitch at Vancouver Olympic security exercises
Last Updated: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 | 6:15 PM PT
CBC News
The Canadian Armed Forces will play a major role in security at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler. (CBC)The skies and waterways around Greater Vancouver will be full of unusual sights over the next several days as the 2010 Integrated Security Unit prepares for the upcoming Olympic Games with a series of drills.
But so far, not all has gone according to plan.
Rush hour commuters and residents around Vancouver's False Creek saw and heard a Canadian Forces helicopter carrying an emergency response team circle the area repeatedly Tuesday morning. The plan had been to drop the team at the athlete's village between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. PT as part of the exercises, dubbed Pegasus Guardian 3/Spartan Rings.
But the helicopter had to keep doing circuits around False Creek because there was no place to land. Construction equipment at the athlete's village site — still under construction — appeared to leave insufficient room for the chopper to put down safely.
Eventually, a spot was found and the aircraft landed more than an hour late.
Marine search and rescue workers also plan to stage a drill involving a dinner cruise vessel in Coal Harbour on Tuesday evening while members of the quick response team will test their skills in a breach of airspace exercise at the Pitt Meadows airport on Thursday.
The Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit says all the exercises are designed to test security, safety and emergency management procedures in the run-up to the Games.
The federal and provincial governments have estimated the total cost for security at the Games will be $900 million, or almost five times the amount initially estimated, with the province contributing $252.5 million and the federal government covering the rest.
With files from The Canadian Press
