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3 killed as helicopter crashes during 'bread and butter' exercise
Last Updated: Thursday, July 13, 2006 | 2:20 PM AT
CBC News

Three crew members were killed and four were injured early Thursday morning when a Canadian Forces search-and-rescue helicopter crashed into the ocean during a routine training exercise off Canso, N.S.

The CH-149 Cormorant helicopter crashed at about 12:30 a.m. AT during a hoist exercise with Canadian Coast Guard and local fishing vessels, military officials said during a news conference at 14 Wing Greenwood, where the helicopter was based.

The downed helicopter was pulled from the water Thursday by a recovery vessel.
The downed helicopter was pulled from the water Thursday by a recovery vessel.
(Courtesy John Green)

"It was a very normal training evolution," said Lt.-Col. Tom Hughes, commander of 413 Transport and Rescue Squadron.

"We do it frequently. It is one of our bread-and-butter missions to go and hoist people off of boats in darkness."

Hughes, whose voice was tight with emotion as he spoke, said everyone on the base has pulled together to support the families of the victims and the injured.

(CBC)
(CBC)

"We are obviously deeply stricken with the emotion such an accident brings," said Hughes.

Military officials have identified the dead as:

* Sgt. Dwayne Brazil, 39, a flight engineer from Gander, N.L., married with two daughters.
* Master Cpl. Kirk Noel, 33, a search-and-rescue technician from St. Anthony, N.L., not married.
* Cpl. Trevor McDavid, 31, a flight engineer from Sudbury, Ont., married with two daughters.

Capt. Ron Bush, 40 and Sgt. Marty Maloney, 48, are in a Halifax hospital with injuries that were described as serious but not life-threatening.

The other two injured crewmembers, Capt. Gabriel Ringuette, 41, and Maj. Gordon Ireland, 42, are in hospital in Antigonish.

The crew was conducting a hoisting exercise when the helicopter crashed, officials said. The exercise is a common training manoeuvre, in which a helicopter hovers above a ship or water as someone is lowered to complete a rescue.

Screams in the water

First word of the crash came from a nearby coast guard vessel. Four Sisters, a local fishing boat taking part in the training exercise, picked up the survivors, said Barry Lumsden, deputy mayor of Canso.

"They're responsible for them being alive today."

'We're not heroes. We're just ordinary people who did the best in their situation.'-Fisherman Ken Snow, who helped rescue the chopper crew

Two divers found the three dead crew members in the partially submerged aircraft, Lumsden said.

Ken Snow, who was on the Four Sisters, said the helicopter made a couple of passes overhead.

"The next thing I know, I heard a crash," he told CBC News.

Motoring slowly through the dark and fog, Snow said they followed the screams and yells of the people in the water.

The fishing boat found two people in the water and two more aboard the wreckage. Using fishing lines and a winch, they jury-rigged a sling and plucked the men out of the water.

"They were obviously injured and we did the best we could," Snow said.

He and another fisherman grabbed the sleeping bags on the boat and wrapped the crew members in them to keep them warm.

"We're not heroes," Snow said. "We're just ordinary people who did the best in their situation."

History of problems

The downed helicopter was brought to Mulgrave, N.S., by the coast guard ship Earl Grey. A flight safety team from Ottawa is on its way to the scene to investigate the incident.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said his thoughts and prayers are with the families of the dead crew members.

"It is my hope that they find some solace in the knowledge that they do not grieve alone. Canada mourns the loss of these men," Harper said in a statement.

In Halifax, the Nova Scotia government has lowered the flag outside Province House to half-mast.

Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor said he honoured the memory of the victims and is "humbled by their sacrifice."

The Canadian Forces' fleet of Cormorants, which are no stranger to flight restrictions, have been suspended from all but emergency flights.

Emergency operations

The fleet was previously restricted to emergency operations in April 2004, after a British Royal Navy Merlin helicopter similar to the Cormorant crashed, injuring five people. Hairline cracks in the helicopter's tail rotor were blamed.

The Cormorant and Merlin helicopters are both manufactured by AgustaWestland Industries and share similar components, said the military.

Canada's Cormorants were also placed on restricted duty earlier in 2004 over concerns about potential fuel leaks.

Canada began taking delivery of the Cormorants in 2000 to replace its aging fleet of Labrador helicopters.