Pilot walks away from helicopter crash near Alberta fire

[W5]

https://fireaviation.com/2023/05/05/pil ... erta-fire/

A pilot walked away with minor injuries when his helicopter made a hard landing and rolled at the Edson Airport in western Alberta Thursday evening. Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said officers responded just after 8 p.m. to the town’s airport, located about 180 kilometres (112 miles) west of Edmonton in Yellowhead County. According to Global News Canada, police said the helicopter was helping fight; that site has video of the incident. RCMP said forestry officials responded to the crash, in addition to emergency crews.

An Alberta Wildfire officer said the province doesn’t own its own helicopters and instead contracts with private outfits to help as needed. It’s not yet known what company owned the helicopter that crashed.

Video sent to Global News shows the helicopter coming in to land and setting down hard, causing the aircraft to flip over. The pilot, who was alone in the aircraft, sustained only minor injuries. He was taken to hospital as a precaution, RCMP added.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said it has been notified of the crash in Edson.

[Jean-Pierre]

Be safe this season my firefighting friend

[Ogee]

Looking at that, it's a possibility that this was a normal approach that ended up with a power loss well inside the curve. The side view is consistent with that, from the time there is that bit of a nose drop, what may have been a high flare, and not enough rotor energy at the bottom. The pilots who fly for forest services are far from rookies and its hard to imagine one doing that with everything working,

cncpc

[Trunorth]

Anyone know who the operator is or the registration? Happy to hear the pilot walked away.

[Steamchicken]

I am glad the pilot walked away. It could have been a lot worse. I don't like to speculate on anything involving unfortunate incidenst however the aircraft approached with a a quartering tailwind which was in excess of 15 knots (windsock is straight out) then used a moderately steep approach and turned straight downwind. It is obvious from the smoke. Looked to me like fully developed VRS.

[cncpc]

Good analysis. I prefer it to mine.

[pelmet]

C-FAVX, a Range Helicopters Inc. Airbus Helicopters AS350-B2, was returning to the Edson
airport (CYET), AB, from a staging area supporting firefighting operations to the east of Edson, AB.
On approach to CYET the pilot elected to expedite his arrival routing due to incoming fixed wing air
traffic. On the final approach to landing, the helicopter entered a descent that resulted in a hard
landing and roll-over. The pilot survived with minor injuries; the helicopter was substantially
damaged. Post impact, the engine continued to run and was subsequently shut down. The ELT
activated; there was no post-impact fire.

[Dias]

The pilots who fly for forest services are far from rookies and its hard to imagine one doing that with everything working,

Do they typically fly during the off-season or just the summer?

[cncpc]

I'd expect some do one or the other, and some just one.