The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Cyclone landing not linked to crash: military
The military is not grounding its fleet of Cyclones after one of the helicopters made a “precautionary landing” Tuesday afternoon at Rainbow Haven Beach Provincial Park.
No Cyclones were visible late Wednesday morning taking off or landing at 12 Wing Shearwater during a half-hour tour around the perimeter of the base.
"There are no additional operational restrictions imposed due to yesterday's precautionary landing," Maj. Trevor Reid of 1 Canadian Air Division said Wednesday in an email.
"While the cause of the cockpit indication is still being investigated, at this point there is no reason to suspect any fleet issues. If ongoing investigations reveal anything that could change that understanding, appropriate actions will be taken. There is no indication this cockpit indicator is related in any way to the crash of Stalker-22."
Stalker-22 was the Cyclone that crashed into the Ionian Sea last year, killing six members of the Canadian Armed Forces. That accident prompted the military to ground Cyclones temporarily.
Senior military officials said last summer there was a “conflict” or “competition”
between the Cyclone and its pilot moments before that chopper plunged into the ocean as it was returning to HMCS Fredericton. The helicopter from 12 Wing Shearwater was participating in training exercises
April 29, 2020 off the west coast of Greece.
An investigation found the aircraft did not respond as the pilot anticipated when he made a final left turn to approach and land on the frigate, which is based in Halifax.
When they announced the resumption of Cyclone flights last June, Royal Canadian Air Force officials said investigators had been able to recreate the circumstances surrounding the crash using information from the Cyclone's flight-data recorders, which were recovered from the sea.
The Cyclone that touched down at Rainbow Haven Tuesday afternoon landed after the crew got a cockpit warning. The military would not provide any details on what that warning entailed.
“If they landed in a spot like that, it's because they were responding to either a malfunction or an indication of a pending malfunction that required them to land immediately — where further flight is ill-advised,” said Larry Mcwha, a retired colonel and former commanding officer of 423 Squadron, which flies CH-148 choppers out of 12 Wing Shearwater.
Potential problems that might have resulted in Tuesday's Rainbow Haven landing include loss of oil in the main gearbox, said Mcwha, who lives on the Eastern Shore.
He noted that's what led to the March 12, 2009 crash that killed 17 people and injured one more when Cougar Helicopters Flight 491 — a civilian variant of the same Sikorsky helicopter the military uses — crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Newfoundland.
“That was a land immediately situation where they were out of oil,” he said. “And there was no suitable place to land. They were just going down as if they were going to prepare to ditch and before they got the thing safely ditched, they lost control.”
Mcwha doubts an engine malfunction brought on Tuesday's park landing.
“It's very difficult to land a helicopter without some kind of run-on landing with an engine malfunction,” he said.
“In that case you would proceed to the nearest suitable landing strip.”
Nobody was hurt and the helicopter wasn't damaged in Tuesday's landing at Rainbow Haven, according to the military, which sent out a crew to tow the Cyclone back to Shearwater.
In a written statement, the military said that would allow “technicians, flight safety personnel and the aircraft manufacturer better ability to determine the cause of the cockpit indication. The RCAF flight safety investigators will also be looking into the incident along with the aircraft manufacturer.”
If people have to come from outside Nova Scotia, the military said they will be following precautions aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19.
"The majority of on-site contractor support to CH-148 operations in 12 Wing Shearwater is provided by Nova Scotia residents," Reid said.
"From time to time, contractors from outside the Atlantic region come to Shearwater in order to provide specialist support. This is classified as support to the Department of National Defence and the contractors follow the federal and provincial orders applicable to exempt/ essential workers. Additionally, each specific visit is scrutinized by 12 Wing based on the nature of the work, the number of personnel they will need to interact with, the COVID-19 point prevalence at their point of origin and other factors, with additional protocols and mitigation measures applied as appropriate."
Those involved in towing the helicopter back to Shearwater from Rainbow Haven Tuesday "were either residents of Nova Scotia or had completed a full 14-day quarantine and multiple COVID tests as is required prior to commencing work at 12 Wing Shearwater," Reid said. "All contractor personal are required to comply with all 12 Wing COVID-19 mitigation protocols to include wearing of masks, hand-washing and physical distancing both on and off work hours."