Alice Arm crash

[Blakey]

I lost a good friend in a 206 crash on 19 Sept. He crashed into a tidal flat on Alice Arm north of Terrace. Any info on what may have happened would be appreciated.

[sky's the limit]

Hi Blakey,

There is very little information out yet, but you may want to check the Vertical Mag Forum for more up to date information. Everyone who's known, or met Randy and the other two passengers is very sad.

You have my condolences.

STL

Insp. (Ret'd) Randy Hildebrandt died in a helicopter crash on September 19, 2006 in Alice Arm, BC.

A celebration of his life will be held on September 30, 2006 at 11:00 am. The Ceremony will be held at the Cowichan Theatre located at 2687 James Street, Duncan, BC.

Randy Hildebrandt was a pioneer in RCMP Air Services, instrumental in developing the Air Services Section for helicopters in many ways. During his tenure, Randy was responsible for the introduction of safety helmets for RCMP helicopter pilots across Canada. He also was successful in obtaining equipment such as the night sun and other instrumentation that contributed to the development of the helicopter service we have today.

At the request of Randy's widow, Shari Hildebrandt, serving and authorized retired members are encouraged to wear Review Order No. 1 with Stripped Sam Browne to the service.

Helen Darbyshire, for
Insp. Terry Kopan
Office of the Deputy Commissioner

[longjon]

This is so sad,I knew Randy when he came to Whitehorse to get his heli time after being a regular Constable and ran into him in Ottawa yrs later when he was respectable and had a decent position.

I recall he spent some time flying Van Island looking for grow ops and had a nick name something busters. Anyone remember.

So sad a really decent guy.

[floatingbeaver]

Hi guys is there anymore info on this my buddy here in Ottawa has been trying to find more info. Thanks for any help

[Fully Articulated]

We were talking about Randy yesterday and was told that it is looking like a servo problem. Not sure of the source and I can't confirm this. I will do some digging to see what I can find out.

[rotorfloat]

Heard the same thing, one of the cyclic servos, recently OH'd, was full of sludge. The other cyclic servo had dirty hydraulic fluid in it, and the collective servo was ok.

[sky's the limit]

Yeah,

I heard about the servo issues, and the state of the hydraulic fluid. Always nice when the industry is busy, but the Mntc has to keep up. No excuse for that kind of thing.

STL

[rotorfloat]

Not the first maintenance issue for this company, and not their only machine to go down this year.

Maybe this is another "TC should have been doing their job" discussion...

[sky's the limit]

Yes RF, perhaps it should be.

Where are the inspectors when these types of things are going on? Rumour has it Q decided to just pay the fines for exceeding monthly Flt Times instead of grounding the machines, or hiring more pilots. How can a Regulator fine a company for knowingly breaking regulations but not demand they do something about it???

But, TC has it's own host of problems, particularly here in the Pacific Region. There are many ppl doing jobs for which they are not qualified/suited for.

STL

[Blakey]

Yes RF, perhaps it should be.

Where are the inspectors when these types of things are going on? Rumour has it Q decided to just pay the fines for exceeding monthly Flt Times instead of grounding the machines, or hiring more pilots. How can a Regulator fine a company for knowingly breaking regulations but not demand they do something about it???

But, TC has it's own host of problems, particularly here in the Pacific Region. There are many ppl doing jobs for which they are not qualified/suited for.

STL

If this did happen, then it amounts to a license fee for violating regulations. I sincerely hope that an contamination in the servos was a tragic mistake and not a maintenance oversight. Randy was a professional of the highest order and deserved the best maintenance available to back him up in his job.

If the truth comes out along the line this thread is suggesting, I prophesy another "Widow" tilting at Transport's windmills. His widow, similar to our "Widow", is not a shrinking vilolet and would not let sub-standard maintenace just drop I'm sure!