Military grounds all Sea King helicopters
Measure follows Nova Scotia crash
Military investigators were trying to determine Tuesday whether an accident involving a Sea King helicopter in Nova Scotia was caused by a fleet-wide problem or an isolated incident.
In the meantime, all the military’s Sea Kings have been grounded as a precaution. That grounding — what the Royal Canadian Air Force is calling an “operational pause” — also affects the two helicopters being used on board HMCS Toronto and HMCS Ottawa, both at sea.
“It’s precautionary until they can determine if this is a systemic issue with the Sea Kings or is something that is isolated,” said Royal Canadian Navy Lt. Len Hickey, the public affairs officer at 12 Wing Shearwater.
Investigators from the air force’s flight safety directorate from Ottawa are on the scene of the accident, at the base near Halifax. “It’s hard to determine how long it’s going to be,” Hickey said of the grounding. “It could be something that happens overnight and we’re back to flying tomorrow or it could be something that takes a little bit longer.”
The aircraft had landed Monday night after a routine training mission and tipped forward while its rotors were spinning. None of the four crew members on board were injured.
“The aircraft was actually at a stop,” Hickey explained. “The tail of the aircraft shifted up and the helicopter rolled, and the main rotors made contact with the ground.”
The RCAF has 25 Sea Kings. Of those, two are in storage and two are used for maintenance training, Hickey said.
The incident comes almost four months after the head of Canada’s air force expressed his utmost confidence in the Sea King helicopter.
On March 25 air force chief Lt.-Gen. Yvan Blondin told senators he wasn’t worried about ongoing delays of the arrival of the Cyclone maritime helicopter that is to replace the Sea Kings.
“I am comfortable in flying the Sea King for the next five years,” he explained to the senate defence committee.
The grounding of the Sea Kings will raise further questions about the problemplagued program to replace those helicopters. Canada has ordered 28 Cyclone helicopters from U.S. aerospace giant Sikorsky.
The original contract called for the first Cyclone to be delivered in November 2008, but Sikorsky has yet to turn over a single helicopter.