The swath of trees cleared is apparently from the S-76 (405 metres x 125 metres)
ORNGE helicopter crash: Transportation Safety Board finishes examining crash site | Toronto Star
MOOSONEE, ONT.—Transportation Safety Board of Canada investigators have finished examining the site of an ORNGE helicopter crash in Moosonee, Ont., that claimed the lives of all four crew members on board.
Investigators plan to take their notes, pictures and video back to labs in Ottawa and Toronto, where they will piece together exactly how and why an experienced crew crashed only 850 metres from where the chopper took off early Friday.
They’ve also recovered the helicopter’s cockpit voice recorder, a rectangular, orange box that starts recording audio as soon as power is turned on in a helicopter. It’s been sent to Ottawa for analysis.
“We’re fairly confident if there is a good recording, if it’s operating and functional, that we will be able to get something from it,” lead investigator Daryl Collins told the Star.
Investigators have pieced together what happened to the chopper that night. They say it took off from the runway, made a left-hand turn, went into some trees and started descending down to the ground fast.
The helicopter hit the ground in an area of dense, rough terrain close to the airport, creating a strip of destruction 405 metres wide by 125 metres long from where the plane first hit the ground to where most of the wreckage sits now. The site is littered with debris from trees the helicopter hit on its way down.
What isn’t clear is why the chopper crashed. Investigators are trying to figure out if there were mechanical problems with the helicopter, a 33-year-old Sikorsky S-76, or if human error is to blame, for example. According to a statement by ORNGE CEO and president Dr. Andrew McCallum, the weather that night “was adequate for the mission being flown” and the helicopter had been regularly inspected.
Another factor investigators are considering is the darkness the helicopter flew into when it took off from the airport.
Sky and ground may have blurred into a curtain of darkness, creating a “black hole” effect that could have caused disorientation.
Answers to these questions could take up to a year to find, Collins says.
In the meantime, a local company will start cleaning up the helicopter wreckage, preserving it all until the Transportation Safety Board investigation is finished.
The bodies of pilot Capt. Don Filliter, first officer Jacques Dupuy, and medics Chris Snowball and Dustin Dagenais have been removed from the scene and are being examined.
People in Moosonee, a small town of 3,500 on the James Bay coast, rely on air travel to get in and out of town. The community is only accessible from the south by plane and train.
ORNGE is also a key component of the town. People rely on the service not only to get to regional hospitals in the case of an emergency, but also as a major employer.
In a community where everyone knows everyone else by face, a tragedy like this hits hard. It’s the third devastation in the town in less than a year. The Moosonee Health Centre, the town’s clinic, was destroyed in a fire in December. And many residents had to evacuate their homes due to flooding this past spring.
On Saturday night, hundreds gathered for a candlelight vigil on the main street of Moosonee, where you can find the town’s only bank, grocery store, bar and restaurant.
Mourners used whatever they could find, from Styrofoam cups to tin plates, to build makeshift candle holders. They then walked along Moosonee’s wet, muddy and potholed roads, holding the candles in memory of the four men who died in the crash.
Residents have also been raising money to donate to the victims’ families.
“Usually the tragedy is on the outside of the [Emergency Medical Services] world and we are the ones there to help,” John McIntosh, director of James Bay Ambulance, said Saturday.
“This time, the tragedy is in the EMS world and it’s the community that’s helping us.”
Dagenais lived in the community full-time for five years, making his home across the river in Moose Factory.
His friends have set up a trust fund for his wife, Josée Cousineau, and their 10-month-old daughter, Névia.