Herb Mathisen
Northern News Services
Published Monday, July 21, 2008

MARY RIVER - A helicopter carrying three passengers from the Baffinland Mary River site lost control and crashed into a river 30 feet from shore late last month. No one was injured.

The Canadian Helicopter Ltd.Astar 350B helicopter was carrying a three-person archeology team and a pilot from the project about 160km south of Pond Inlet to Steensby Inlet.

The pilot lost control of the aircraft around 10 p.m. on June 30, about 77km southeast of the site, while executing a left turn.

"The aircraft, during a left hand turn moving downwind, started gyrating - in other words, it started doing 360s - and the pilot could not regain control of the aircraft," said Marc Perrault, senior investigator with the Transportation Safety Board, in Montreal. "The aircraft hit the water, in about five feet of water, about 30 feet away from the shore."

Perrault said the helicopter was about 200 feet above the ground when it started to spin, and was travelling around 40 to 50 kilometres per hour.

"The pilot and three passengers got out of the aircraft without injuries and walked about a mile to shelter, where they asked for help," said Perrault.

Perrault suggested that, when a helicopter turns downwind, the wind, which was between 15 to 20 knots, can become more influential than the rotor, and can cause a loss of control.

"A loss of rotary effectiveness may occur in this situation," he said.

Al Gorman, operations manager with Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation which owns the Mary River project site, said the helicopter company is undergoing an investigation on the aircraft.

"QC Canadian Helicopters are in the process of a comprehensive investigation," he said. "We haven't seen the conclusions of that yet, but obviously it is taken very seriously with the potential for human injury."

Gorman added there were no injuries or adverse environmental impacts from the crash.

"The helicopter was extracted from the river and has been shipped off the site for further investigation and repairs," he said.

The archaeologist team was en route to Steensby Inlet, said Gorman, to survey an area where the mining company is proposing to lay a railway down.

Gorman said the company must examine sites to make sure there are no archaeological sites of interest at risk of being disturbed by the geotechnical drilling it will undertake to understand the soil and permafrost of the area.

Perrault said the aircraft showed no evidence of prior failure.

"An inspection of the aircraft afterwards revealed no deficiencies related to the crash," he said, adding the helicopter did sustain major damage from the crash.