By Anna Killen, Terrace Standard
A Transportation Safety Board investigation into a helicopter crash that claimed the lives of three people near Terrace last year is citing sudden loss of visibility as well as a lack of instruments and instrument training as the cause of the crash.
The Bailey Helicopters’ Eurocopter AS350 crashed onto the back side of Sleeping Beauty Mountain – 11 nautical miles west of Terrace – around 8:40 a.m. June 1, 2012. Its three male occupants, company assistant chief pilot Peter Bryant, 44, of Terrace, relief pilot Blake Erickson, 48, of Sicamous, and company aircraft maintenance engineer Arnold Jolobois, 44, of Banff were confirmed dead hours later.
Bryant was scheduled to go on leave the next day, and the men were on a final training and familiarization flight before his leave, reads the report, released Dec. 3. Jolobois was on-board to assist with the plan to conduct hover-exit training.
The weather the day of the flight was cloudy and rainy, with low visibility and mountain peaks obscured by clouds, reads the report, which notes the company was authorized by Transport Canada to fly in reduced-visibility.
Neither pilot held an instrument rating nor received any recent instrument flight training, and the helicopter was not equipped for flight in instrument meteorological conditions, which is when pilots fly using instruments instead of visual references due to lack of visibility.
Approximately 45 minutes into the flight the helicopter suddenly entered overcast conditions, causing the pilots to “lose visual reference to the ground and become disoriented and lose control,” reads the report. The plane went into a downward spiral and collided with the snow-covered terrain.
“Research suggests that pilots without instrument flight training who lose sight of the ground will lose control of their aircraft within three minutes.”
The report notes the changes Bailey Helicopters, based in Fort St. John, has made since the incident, including suspending its authorization for reduced-visibility flights. It has also enhanced training for its pilots, including controlled flight into terrain avoidance and inadvertent meteorological condition training, put in place tools to enhance pilot decision-making as well as implemented a flight data monitoring program.
Two pilots were given awards for their work following the crash.
The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre (JRCC) in Victoria issued the award to White River Helicopters, singling out Kief Khanlarian and Andy Ramsay, who first found the wreckage.
The JRCC’s award program acknowledges the contribution of volunteers and the general public who go above and beyond to assist in an emergency air or marine situation. The awards, given out a couple of times a year, are issued based on advice from the co-ordinators who run the cases.
“While all we can provide is a piece of paper, we hope they find pride in the sincere words from all of our co-ordinators here who greatly appreciated their assistance during the prosecution of this tragic accident,” said Major James Pierotti of the JRCC when the awards were given.
The 2012 crash was the second helicopter accident in two years in which lives were lost in the region.