A report trying into the reason for a deadly crash involving a helicopter being used to fight wildfires burning in northern Alberta two summers ago has been launched and identifies what investigators consider led to the plane’s engine to fail.
“The investigation discovered {that a} manufacturing defect within the engine’s air diffuser created a localized failure which progressively led to the engine failure,” officers with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) mentioned in a information launch issued Thursday.
The crash occurred about 110 kilometres northeast of Peace River on July 19, 2023, as Alberta was experiencing a record-breaking wildfire season. The helicopter’s pilot, the one individual within the plane, was killed within the incident.
“There was no post-impact hearth,” the TSB mentioned. “The pilot survived the preliminary affect and was capable of egress from the helicopter however later died of his accidents.”
Based on investigators, a Bell 205A-1 helicopter, operated by Valhalla Helicopters Inc., left the Haig Lake firebase simply after 6 p.m. with an empty water bucket on a 150-foot-long line. Quickly after, investigators mentioned the helicopter skilled an engine failure and started an emergency descent or autorotation.
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“The water bucket turned entangled in bushes, and the plane impacted the terrain in a nose-down, left-banked perspective,” the TSB mentioned. “Though it couldn’t be decided why the water bucket was not launched earlier than it turned entangled with the bushes, the investigation did discover that it is not uncommon follow for pilots to function with the cargo launch change within the ‘off’ place, which deactivates the electrical cargo launch on the collective.
“That is completed to forestall unintended launch. Whereas this may occasionally cut back threat in routine operations, it will increase the issue of releasing the load throughout an emergency. On this incidence, provided that the change was within the ‘off’ place, it might have been tough to launch the water bucket within the brief time between the engine failure and the affect.”
The TSB mentioned that after the crash, Valhalla Helicopters issued an organization memo to remind its personnel “that the electrical cargo launch hook be armed for any exterior load operations and that each the handbook and electrical releases be checked earlier than the primary flight of the day.”
The pilot who died was identified as 41-year-old Ryan Gould, a father to 2 kids who hailed from the Whitecourt space. Shortly after the crash, his spouse Carlyn Gould spoke to World Information and mentioned he merely liked flying.
“He had been doing this for over 20 years. He was very skilled in wildfires,” she mentioned. “I name him a hero as a result of within the 20 years of flying fires throughout Canada, within the U.S., and in Australia, he has saved many crews secure from being taken out in fires.
“He has saved individuals’s houses and their livelihoods. He has taken care of the individuals, and never simply fought the fires.”
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