LEGO Labrador: Boys build homage to SAR-Tech dad’s RCAF career

Master Warrant Officer (Retired) Dan Pasieka, centre, holds the LEGO model built by his sons, Mike and Denis, of the CH-113 Labrador he flew in for years as a Royal Canadian Air Force search and rescue technician. The boys are hoping fan support in the LEGO Ideas online group might see their home-build someday fly off store shelves.

Sara White
Aurora Newspaper
––

The CH-113 Labrador has a special corner of Master Warrant Officer (retired) Dan Pasieka’s heart. It was used by the Royal Canadian Air Force as its search and rescue helicopter for 41 years before being replaced by the CH-149 Cormorant.

But the LEGO model his sons Mike, 15, and Denis, 13, made of the aircraft hold a larger space. It’s a tribute to his 26-year military career, including time as a search and rescue technician.

The Ottawa family, and MWO Pasieka, were never posted to 413 (Transport and Rescue) Squadron at 14 Wing Greenwood, but they did spend time at search and rescue bases across Canada.

When he retired Jan. 4, his boys got to work.

“We designed this set for our father as a gift for him because he flew in this Labrador,” says Denis, describing the early process of sorting through their amassed bins of traditional LEGO to sort out as much yellow as they could find. They wanted moving parts and functioning features, including the retracting winch and ramp their dad would have worked with as he helped save fishermen, boaters, hikers, aviators, and others in distress.

The boys called it complete March 11, loading their build to the LEGO Ideas website in hopes fan votes will catch the brick-building company’s attention, and the Labrador becomes a sellable kit down the road.

They need 10,000 votes over two years to get their design in front of the LEGO board.

The boys’ Labrador exceeded the initial milestone – 100 votes in two months, getting that in just three days.

“If you hit the 10,000, the LEGO board will put your design through tests, deciding if it works,” Mike says. “You help them design it. It may change a little bit, but it’s still your original concept and design.”

Their proposed set would come with a helipad, GPU cart (ground power unit), and a crew compliment of five LEGO characters: two pilots, one flight engineer and two SAR-Techs.

Check out the LEGO Labrador online here:
https://ideas.lego.com

If you’d like to see it flying from store shelves in the future, vote with your support.

––––