Helicopter goes down near Baker Lake
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Baker Lake (May 02/01) - A helicopter pilot walked away unharmed Saturday night after his aircraft went down about 40 kilometres north of Baker Lake.
Nick Greenfield, originally from England and now living in Montreal, has been flying helicopters for 12 years. He was returning to Baker Lake from the Meadowbank mining exploration camp when he ran into trouble.
Greenfield was the sole occupant of the aircraft, which flipped over on its side during an emergency landing.
The helicopter's emergency locator transmitter (ELT) was activated upon impact and its signal picked up almost immediately by the Rescue Co-ordination Centre (RCC) in Trenton, Ont.
Const. Jennifer Ebert of Baker Lake RCMP said the Baker Community Aerodrome Radio station received the emergency signal at 9:45 p.m. Saturday.
Two ground and one air unit were dispatched to the accident scene.
"RCC sent a Hercules aircraft from Trenton, and there was a Bombardier and snowmobile of search-and-rescue personnel sent from both the Meadowbank site and Baker Lake," says Ebert.
Greenfield said that, although he's happy to have escaped the incident unscathed, he also knows such perils are part of flying in the North. "We're trained for that type of emergency, so it was really no big deal to me."
Reports from the crash site of dents and a chip in the helicopter's rear rotor may indicate something came in contact with the blade, destabilizing the craft. Greenfield, however, said he could not speak in detail about the incident.
"I really wouldn't want to speculate on the accident until Transport Canada and the engineers have had a chance to come in and look at the aircraft during the next couple of days."
Greenfield said he was impressed with the response time of the rescue units -- about 60 minutes -- and was in no discomfort waiting for their arrival.
"I had all my own personal gear on-board, as well as an arctic survival kit. I would have been good for a night or two out there with no problem at all."
