Otro helicoptero mas,se cayo
Three dead, four injured in military chopper crash off Nova Scotia
Thu Jul 13, 5:52 PM
HALIFAX (CP) - A seemingly routine military training exercise on a calm summer night off eastern Nova Scotia went horribly wrong early Thursday with the sudden crash of a relatively new Cormorant helicopter.
The accident at sea, a few kilometres from Canso, N.S., claimed three lives, including a 31-year-old who recently graduated from search-rescue training, and his instructor. Visibly shaken air force officers told a news conference at Canadian Forces Bases Greenwood, N.S., that the helicopter nosed into shallow water without warning, not far from the stern of a coast guard auxiliary boat.
"It was a very normal training evolution," said Lt.-Col. Tom Hughes, commander of 413 Squadron.
"We do it frequently. It is one of our bread-butter missions to go and hoist people off boats in darkness."
Hughes refused to speculate on a potential cause of the crash, or whether persistent structural problems with the aircraft's tail rotor played any part in the accident.
The CH-149 Cormorant search-rescue fleet, which entered service in 2001, was operating under flying time restrictions at the time of the crash, said Lt.-Col. Steve Brabant, the acting commander of 14 Wing.
"They're not restrictions that would affect our ability to go and train," he said.
Because of concerns about potential cracking in the hub of the tail rotors, Cormorant training exercises were limited to three hours in duration.
Military officials refused to say how long the 15-tonne aircraft had been in the air at the time of the crash and whether it had any mechanical problems.
"As standard practice, the logs and the maintenance records are quarantined for the investigation," said Capt. Jean Pierre Turcott, an air force spokesman in Greenwood.
Four other crew members, including the pilot and co-pilot, were treated in hospital for serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Military officials identified the three killed crew members as Sgt. Duane Brazil, 39; Master Cpl. Kirk Noel, 33; and Cpl. Trevor McDavid, 31.
Brazil, who was born in Gander, N.L., was married with two daughters.
In a tragically ironic twist, his brother, Gary Brazil, died in a coast guard helicopter crash into the ocean off Newfoundland in 2000. He was also 39 at the time.
Noel, from St. Anthony, N.L., was single, while McDavid, who was originally from Sudbury, Ont., was married with two daughters.
"They served with distinction in the name of Canada and will be missed by all who knew them," said Hughes, his voice often halting with emotion.
McDavid had only graduated as a flight engineer a few weeks ago after being instructed by Brazil, who took part in the harrowing 2003 high-seas rescue of Spanish fishermen off Newfoundland.
The military identified the injured as Capt. Gabriel Ringuette, 41; Sgt. Martin Moloney, 48; Capt. Ronald Busch, 40; and Maj. Gordon Ireland, 42.
Ringuette, Moloney and Busch are all originally from Ontario, although the military did not release their hometowns. Ireland was born in Northern Ireland.
It was dark when the CH-149 Cormorant from 413 Transport and Rescue Squadron approached the stern of the coast guard auxillary ship Four Sisters, preparing to lower a rescue technician. The aircraft reportedly dipped to the right slightly and then crashed nose first into the ocean.
"It was so fast that nobody would have had a chance to even remotely say anything," said Billy Bond, a Four Sisters crew member, who was on the ship's deck
![Espera waiting waiting](https://www.smiley-lol.com/smiley/expressifs/sablierr.gif)
for the technician to be lowered when the accident occurred.
He said everyone on the auxiliary ship scrambled to help.
"It was frightening for all of us. . . . We had to realize, 'Oh my God, this thing crashed.' And there was a little bit of hootin' and hollerin' on the boat, then I said, 'Boys we gotta calm down. We gotta get these guys. We gotta find that helicopter.' "
Crew members grabbed sleeping bags out of bunks, blankets and jackets to help the injured get warm, said Bond.
"Some of them were pretty cold and shaking and starting to go into shock," he said.
"We did everything we could do with the little bit of training that we did get, that we did know, that we could think of at the time."
The four survivors were rescued as a fog bank enveloped the crash site.
The coast guard ship Earl Grey, equipped with a large crane, arrived on scene a few hours after the accident to pluck the wreckage from the ocean.
It took until mid-morning for the bodies of the three dead to be recovered from the aircraft.
The helicopter was brought to Mulgrave, N.S., by the Earl Grey. It was upside down on the coast guard vessel with a sling connected to a crane attached to its undercarriage.
The cockpit and forward section appeared to be sheared off.
A flight safety team was en route to the scene from Ottawa to conduct an inspection of the aircraft.
Flags at the Nova Scotia legislature were lowered to half-mast and Premier Rodney MacDonald called for a moment of silence out of respect for the men.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said it was "with great sorrow that I learned of the tragic search-rescue training accident" and described those who died as "brave" members of the Canadian Forces.
"My thoughts and prayers are with their family, friends and loved ones during this difficult time," he said in a statement. "It is my hope that they find some solace in the knowledge that they do no grieve alone. Canada mourns the loss of these men."
A witness who saw the Cormorant pass overhead said he thought it odd that the aircraft appeared not to have any lights on. Moments later, he heard a huge bang.
"It was just like a big boom, like a stick of dynamite going off," said Mel Rhynald, who was working the late shift at the Seafreez Foods plant on Canso's waterfront.
"We heard the boom and we just took for granted that's what happened because it was a little hazy and then we knew exactly that the chopper went down."
Hughes said Cormorant crews practise a series of manoeuvres, some of which involve pilots using night-vision goggles, and that might explain the absence of running lights.
The accident is the second at-sea crash of a Canadian Forces helicopter in the last year. On Feb. 2, a navy Sea King ditched in the ocean off Denmark, also during a night-time training exercise. No one was killed in that accident.
The Cormorant search-rescue helicopter is a recent addition to the air force, but already has a history of problems.
In October 2004, all but essential and test flights of the helicopters were suspended because of the discovery of dangerous cracks on a tail rotor.
At the time, the air force said if a crack had spread, the blade would come off, forcing the helicopter to make an emergency landing.
The Cormorant fleet was grounded earlier in 2004 after one of its British navy equivalents was involved in a crash believed to have been caused by cracks in the tail rotor assembly.
And in February 2004, the Canadian air force suspended training flights after two aircraft developed fuel leaks in the engines. Mechanical problems were also reported in the choppers' hoists shortly after they replaced the old fleet of Labradors.
The fleet of 15 Cormorants fly out of CFB Trenton in Ontario, CFB Gander in Newfoundland, CFB Greenwood, and from Comox, B.C.
Canada paid $779 million for the 15 Cormorants it bought from E.H. Industries in a deal reached in 1998.