Canadian Forces chopper crashed in full view of multiple witnesses, military confirms
One expert says recovering wreckage will be critical to concluding the crash investigation
Call sign 'Stalker' — the CH-148 Cyclone helicopter that crashed last week in the Ionian Sea off Greece — was only moments away from a scheduled landing aboard HMCS Fredericton when it went down in full view of horrified shipmates who were preparing to receive it aboard the frigate.
"There were eyewitnesses to the accident," said Dan LeBouthillier, head of media relations at the Department of National Defence, in an email.
"As part of their investigation, the Flight Safety investigation team will conduct interviews with these eyewitnesses."
The Canadian military acknowledged last week the five-year-old helicopter was on its way back to the warship and was "within two miles" of it when it inexplicably plunged into the water at 6:52 p.m. local time last Wednesday, killing all six people aboard — four aircrew and two sailors.
It was, in fact, close enough to be seen from the ship and was preparing to land when it hit the water.
At the time, according to one former squadron commander, the frigate would have been "closed up at flight stations" and ready to receive the aircraft well ahead of its scheduled touchdown at 7:00 p.m. local time.
"Flying stations are normally called 15 minutes ahead of time, so everybody necessary for the recovery [can] be in the right places and that certain valves are turned on and turned off," said former colonel Larry McWha, who commanded 423 Squadron when it flew the CH-124 Sea Kings the Cyclone choppers recently replaced.
It would have been a busy flight deck, with aircraft maintainers, aircraft handlers and perhaps even a spare aircrew on hand. The most important person present would have been the landing safety officer, who sits in a glass tower to the one side of the flight deck.
A large number of witnesses
The landing safety officer would have been in radio communication with the helicopter during those fateful last moments, and would have had an unobstructed view of its approach.
"He would have been the person talking to the aircraft ahead of the recovery," said McWha.
The helicopter also would have been in radio contact with the warship's combat operation's centre, well forward of the flight deck, as it returned from a routine maritime surveillance exercise involving other NATO warships.
Depending on whether the aircraft was coming in to refuel and take off again or to land for the night, McWha said, there would have been a dozen or more crew members preparing for its landing. Some may have watched its approach.
And that means there could be a large number of witnesses to be interviewed by flight safety investigators now in Taranto, Italy, where HMCS Fredericton docked over the weekend.
The warship was able to recover the helicopter's flight safety recorders, which are designed to break away and float to the surface after a crash.
Those devices are now in Ottawa at the National Research Council, where they will be analyzed, said LeBouthillier.
Deep water
The helicopter crashed in water roughly 3,000 metres deep, which is complicating efforts to recover human remains and pieces of the aircraft.
McWha said that retrieving as much of the aircraft as possible will be critical to the investigation. Flight data recorders, he said, can only yield so much information about what was going on mechanically with the helicopter.
"The recorders will tell you what was going on. The wreckage will tell you why something went wrong," McWha said.
The Cyclone helicopter fleet is on what the military calls an "operational pause" while the preliminary investigation is underway.
Getting to the bottom of the crash in an open and transparent manner is going to be crucial to the future of the maritime helicopter program and regaining public confidence, said a defence procurement and management expert.
Military and civilian leadership at the Department of National Defence should try to avoid a repeat of the kind of blemish left on the submarine service by the 2004 fatal fire aboard HMCS Chicoutimi, said Dave Perry, vice president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.
"A lot depends on the findings of the investigation and if there is something that can be tied to the operation of the helicopter," he said.
Originally ordered in 2004, the Cyclone was introduced into the service only within the last couple of years after almost a dozen years of development, delays and escalating cost estimates. The program was roundly criticized by the auditor general in 2010.
The former Conservative government toyed with the idea of cancelling the project in 2013, but backed away and negotiated a revised agreement with the manufacturer, Sikorsky.
The air force is still taking delivery of Cyclones.
The submarine fire should be a cautionary tale to those who are running the investigation and making decisions about the helicopter crash because "once you have a stigma, it takes a long time to dissipate,' said Perry.
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