Helicopter crashes near Grande Prairie, Alberta, CANADA

[Squawk Ident 1200]

From CBC News,
A helicopter crash in northwest Alberta has killed one man and injured three others.
A Bell 206 was lifting off from a forestry tower southwest of Grande Prairie at about 6:30 p.m. Monday when it ran into problems, according to the RCMP. It crashed 100 metres away from the takeoff site.
The helicopter was fighting fires in the region.
A 20-year-old male passenger from Valleyview, a community east of Grande Prairie, died. Three other men were taken to hospital, two in serious condition.
John Lee, a spokesman for the Transportation Safety Board, said the pilot survived and may be able to provide critical information about the cause of the crash.
"That will be one of our major areas of interest because not only will he be able to provide us information on the occurrence and exactly what happened to his recollection, but quite a bit of background too of the operation leading up to the occurrence," he said.
Grande Prairie is 455 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
Transport Canada is investigating.

[chopper chix]

do they know who the pilot was??

[paul abersynth]

Does anyone yet know which company was involved?

Condolences to Family of deceased

PA

[aspinwing]

It appears to have been a Precision bird.

RIP

[remote hook]

Second 206 down in Slave Lk, not sure of the outfit, but 36 yr old pilot was killed bucketing, no cause released. Sad couple days.

They're only trees folks, slow down.

RH

[John Eacott]

LinkEdmonton Sun (http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Alberta/2006/07/05/1668716-sun.html):-


Twenty-year-old Darcy Moses was taking his second trip up in a helicopter - helping in the forest fire effort - when the chopper crashed, killing him.

"He loved flying. He'd fly over and see our house and tell us how small we looked and how cool it was," his mom Margaret Fawcett, 42, said through tears yesterday.

"I was so proud of him."

Moses was one of four people on a Precision Helicopters chopper that had been hired by the province to do "initial attack" on forest fires, said Alberta Sustainable Resource Development spokesman Dave Ealey.

"They were checking on lightning strikes from a storm front that had passed through the area," he said.

Lightning strikes can result in the first stages of forest fires called "smokes" and quickly grow into huge infernos.

The Bell 206 Jet Ranger chopper went down moments after takeoff Monday evening, crashing about 100 metres from the takeoff site of the Nose Mountain Tower, southwest of Grande Prairie.

The other three occupants of the helicopter, including the pilot, survived the crash.

Two of the survivors were treated and released from the QE II Hospital in Grande Prairie, while the third remained in hospital in stable condition yesterday.

RCMP arrived at Fawcett's Sturgeon Lake First Nations home Monday night with the grim news.

"They said there was an accident and as soon as they said 'helicopter,' I knew it was Darcy," said Fawcett, her voice breaking.

Moses, the second-oldest of eight children and the father of a 15-month-old boy, always put family first, said his mom.

"No matter how much money he had, he'd try to give me most of it. I'd say, 'No, Darcy, think of yourself.' And he'd say, 'No, mom, give me $10 or $20 and I'll be fine.' He'd help out in every way he could."

Transportation Safety Board spokesman Jon Lee said two TSB investigators were on their way to the crash scene to start their probe.

"One of the issues we'll be looking at is survivability, because we have some people with minor injuries but we also have a fatality," said Lee.

"For us that is not unusual but it's something to look at."

Wayne Fawcett, Moses's stepfather, said the whole family is dealing with shock and disbelief over the tragedy.