Campbell River fatality 24th Sept 2019
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Campbell River fatality 24th Sept 2019
Pilot dead in Campbell River helicopter crash
A well-known helicopter pilot with decades of flying experience on Vancouver Island is dead after his helicopter crashed into a building in Campbell River Tuesday morning.
Friends and colleagues of Ed Wilcock, owner of E&B Helicopters in Campbell River, confirmed to CTV News that he was the pilot killed in the crash.
Bill Alder, a former co-owner of E&B (Ed & Bill) Helicopters along with Wilcock, remembered his friend and partner as "very focused and very driven."
"Anybody in the community already knows him," Alder told CTV News.
"He was an experienced pilot and businessman in the community and has been for a long, long time. He's done a lot for this community. He's going to be missed, big time."
'It came towards us and we started running'
Rescuers were called to the crash scene near Spit Road at approximately 11:25 a.m.
Campbell River resident Sandra Malone told CTV News from the scene that her uncle and two cousins were in a carving shed working on a totem pole when the helicopter slammed through the roof.
"My Uncle Billy had just left his seat right below where the helicopter crashed," Malone said. "He just got up to walk towards where my two cousins were, for whatever reason, and one of the blades came right through the roof.
"All you can smell is the fuel," she added.
Malone's uncle, Bill Henderson, told CTV News that he saw the helicopter coming down and it appeared to be out of control.
"It came towards us and we started running," Henderson said. "And when the helicopter hit, I ran back to the helicopter just to see how many people was in it."
Henderson said when he got close to the downed aircraft, the smell of burning fuel frightened him and he ran away again.
"Where I was sitting is right where the helicopter hit," he said. "That’s my spot in the shop, is right in that corner."
'I noticed the blades were slowing down'
Malone said a group of onlookers also watched the aircraft as it apparently turned towards a nearby landing pad and started wobbling before dropping onto the shed.
"I don't know who the people were who got the pilot out of the helicopter but he didn't make it," she said.
Resident Camble Quatell said he saw the whole incident unfold and then tried to help extinguish the flames with a hose.
"He started to sputter, sputter, and I noticed the blades were slowing down," Quatell told CTV News.
"He knew there was something wrong because he was spinning around," the witness said.
"He was coming down real fast and he hit like, 'Boom,' and that was the end of it. I thought he was going to hit the middle of that building, but he hit the corner."
Quatell said that by the time firefighters arrived, another helicopter pilot was already waiting with a rescue basket attached to his chopper, ready to fly the downed pilot to hospital. "But there was no response," he said.
"The flames got underneath the building's roof and the people next door had a hose and started squirting underneath," he said. "They basically had the fire out. Then they pulled the guy out and he was deceased."
Pilot won safety award in 2017
The Spit Road area, where several aircraft hangars are located, was temporarily closed while police investigated.
"A locally owned commercial helicopter met a tragic end in the area with one soul on board who did not survive," said RCMP Const. Maury Tyre.
"The cause of the crash is presently unknown and will be investigated by WorkSafeBC, the national Transporation Safety Board and the BC Coroners Service," Tyre said.
The BC Coroners Service confirmed it was en route to the scene around noon Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Transportation Safety Board has deployed a team of investigators to examine the site and confirmed that the aircraft was a Bell 206 helicopter.
The RCMP expressed condolences to the pilot's family and to the employees of the helicopter company.
E&B Helicopters has provided air transportation and emergency evacuation services to hundreds of forest industry companies since 1990. Prior to being a pilot, Wilcock worked in the forest industry as a camp superintendent.
Wilcock was given a lifetime-achievement-in-safety award by the BC Forest Safety Council in 2017, citing his "understanding and appreciation of workers' safety in the forestry industry."
In 2013, an E&B helicopter crashed near Bute Inlet, northeast of Campbell River, killing one of six people on board.
Friends and colleagues of Ed Wilcock, owner of E&B Helicopters in Campbell River, confirmed to CTV News that he was the pilot killed in the crash.
Bill Alder, a former co-owner of E&B (Ed & Bill) Helicopters along with Wilcock, remembered his friend and partner as "very focused and very driven."
"Anybody in the community already knows him," Alder told CTV News.
"He was an experienced pilot and businessman in the community and has been for a long, long time. He's done a lot for this community. He's going to be missed, big time."
'It came towards us and we started running'
Rescuers were called to the crash scene near Spit Road at approximately 11:25 a.m.
Campbell River resident Sandra Malone told CTV News from the scene that her uncle and two cousins were in a carving shed working on a totem pole when the helicopter slammed through the roof.
"My Uncle Billy had just left his seat right below where the helicopter crashed," Malone said. "He just got up to walk towards where my two cousins were, for whatever reason, and one of the blades came right through the roof.
"All you can smell is the fuel," she added.
Malone's uncle, Bill Henderson, told CTV News that he saw the helicopter coming down and it appeared to be out of control.
"It came towards us and we started running," Henderson said. "And when the helicopter hit, I ran back to the helicopter just to see how many people was in it."
Henderson said when he got close to the downed aircraft, the smell of burning fuel frightened him and he ran away again.
"Where I was sitting is right where the helicopter hit," he said. "That’s my spot in the shop, is right in that corner."
'I noticed the blades were slowing down'
Malone said a group of onlookers also watched the aircraft as it apparently turned towards a nearby landing pad and started wobbling before dropping onto the shed.
"I don't know who the people were who got the pilot out of the helicopter but he didn't make it," she said.
Resident Camble Quatell said he saw the whole incident unfold and then tried to help extinguish the flames with a hose.
"He started to sputter, sputter, and I noticed the blades were slowing down," Quatell told CTV News.
"He knew there was something wrong because he was spinning around," the witness said.
"He was coming down real fast and he hit like, 'Boom,' and that was the end of it. I thought he was going to hit the middle of that building, but he hit the corner."
Quatell said that by the time firefighters arrived, another helicopter pilot was already waiting with a rescue basket attached to his chopper, ready to fly the downed pilot to hospital. "But there was no response," he said.
"The flames got underneath the building's roof and the people next door had a hose and started squirting underneath," he said. "They basically had the fire out. Then they pulled the guy out and he was deceased."
Pilot won safety award in 2017
The Spit Road area, where several aircraft hangars are located, was temporarily closed while police investigated.
"A locally owned commercial helicopter met a tragic end in the area with one soul on board who did not survive," said RCMP Const. Maury Tyre.
"The cause of the crash is presently unknown and will be investigated by WorkSafeBC, the national Transporation Safety Board and the BC Coroners Service," Tyre said.
The BC Coroners Service confirmed it was en route to the scene around noon Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Transportation Safety Board has deployed a team of investigators to examine the site and confirmed that the aircraft was a Bell 206 helicopter.
The RCMP expressed condolences to the pilot's family and to the employees of the helicopter company.
E&B Helicopters has provided air transportation and emergency evacuation services to hundreds of forest industry companies since 1990. Prior to being a pilot, Wilcock worked in the forest industry as a camp superintendent.
Wilcock was given a lifetime-achievement-in-safety award by the BC Forest Safety Council in 2017, citing his "understanding and appreciation of workers' safety in the forestry industry."
In 2013, an E&B helicopter crashed near Bute Inlet, northeast of Campbell River, killing one of six people on board.
The Transportation Safety Board has also been notified and is assessing its next steps, the agency said.
Ed Wilcock, owner of E&B Helicopters in Campbell River, was killed when his helicopter crashed Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019. (BC Forest Safety Council)
Final report is out and worth reading:
https://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-r...2/a19p0142.pdf
The company was disbanded during the ongoing investigation.
I am not up to date on the current situation regarding Van Horn blades for the 206.
https://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-r...2/a19p0142.pdf
The company was disbanded during the ongoing investigation.
I am not up to date on the current situation regarding Van Horn blades for the 206.
Last edited by lelebebbel; 11th Dec 2022 at 04:57.
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What is the probability of the helicopter experiencing engine problems and then moments later the failure of a blade during an apparent autorotation attempt? Is there something about an autorotation that might place even larger loads on a weakened blade than it would experience during regular (including manoeuvring) flight?
There are other puzzling aspects in the report:
(1) In 1.16.1 it indicates: "Also visible in the [security] video are the main rotor blade interior foam core pieces falling after the helicopter had struck the building". Is this saying the foam was still falling from the sky and so had already been thrown out before the helicopter struck the building?
(2) In 2.2.1 they report on the apparent inconsistency between the Bell predicted 110% main rotor RPM during the decent vs witness accounts and the minor damage to the tail rotor shaft cowl. Presumably the Bell analysis was based on autorotation with regular and undeformed (aside from flexing) metal main rotors? Could the changed aerodynamics of a damaged composite blade contribute to this apparent inconsistency?
Section 1.12.4 "Other accident involving Van Horn composite main rotor blades" notes the 8 August 2020 crash of a Bell 206B (N284S) in Texas. That helicopter was also fitted with Van Horn composite main rotor blades with same part number. Hopefully the investigation of that crash, combined with this one, will lead to a more complete understanding of what has occurred.
There are other puzzling aspects in the report:
(1) In 1.16.1 it indicates: "Also visible in the [security] video are the main rotor blade interior foam core pieces falling after the helicopter had struck the building". Is this saying the foam was still falling from the sky and so had already been thrown out before the helicopter struck the building?
(2) In 2.2.1 they report on the apparent inconsistency between the Bell predicted 110% main rotor RPM during the decent vs witness accounts and the minor damage to the tail rotor shaft cowl. Presumably the Bell analysis was based on autorotation with regular and undeformed (aside from flexing) metal main rotors? Could the changed aerodynamics of a damaged composite blade contribute to this apparent inconsistency?
Section 1.12.4 "Other accident involving Van Horn composite main rotor blades" notes the 8 August 2020 crash of a Bell 206B (N284S) in Texas. That helicopter was also fitted with Van Horn composite main rotor blades with same part number. Hopefully the investigation of that crash, combined with this one, will lead to a more complete understanding of what has occurred.
What is the probability of the helicopter experiencing engine problems and then moments later the failure of a blade during an apparent autorotation attempt? Is there something about an autorotation that might place even larger loads on a weakened blade than it would experience during regular (including manoeuvring) flight?
There are other puzzling aspects in the report:
There are other puzzling aspects in the report:
I'm wondering if a blade deformation might have been the initiating event and the increased drag could have stalled the turbine. This could be one way to explain the trajectory fitting to an autorotation at 110% rrpm but the actual rrpm being significantly lower.
The other option would have been the rrpm going up to 110% thereby damaging the blades and subsequently stopping the rotor due to drag. But in the latter case the question remains why the engine lost power.
Perhaps:
Governing failure
Rotor high
Engine shut-down & autorotation
High drag due to deformed blades or excess pitch (or both)
Low RRPM stall near the bottom, but not near enough to survive.
Governor runaway is really ugly and will send a lot of forces through the aircraft that can cause long-term damage.
Perhaps high RRPM had happened before and the pilot had not subjected the aircraft to independent inspection and almost certain replacement of lots of expensive parts.
Governing failure
Rotor high
Engine shut-down & autorotation
High drag due to deformed blades or excess pitch (or both)
Low RRPM stall near the bottom, but not near enough to survive.
Governor runaway is really ugly and will send a lot of forces through the aircraft that can cause long-term damage.
Perhaps high RRPM had happened before and the pilot had not subjected the aircraft to independent inspection and almost certain replacement of lots of expensive parts.
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Loss of power linked to the reduction of power one week prior to the accident flight? Where they had incorrect accumulators and check valves installed in the fuel system for that airframe.
There was indication of blade fatigue prior to the accident, but it seems that blades could be deforming catastrophically during autorotation. Van Horns jet ranger crashed during test flights of max gross weight autos.
There was indication of blade fatigue prior to the accident, but it seems that blades could be deforming catastrophically during autorotation. Van Horns jet ranger crashed during test flights of max gross weight autos.
I hadn't previously noticed the thread Van Horn blades started by malabo on 9 Dec 2022 related to this same accident. It is disconcerting to read the responses from wrench1 and Salusa (both related to 206L LongRangers). You would have to wonder about the inter-relationship between all these cases? I am also curious to hear more on the "Van Horns jet ranger crashed during test flights of max gross weight autos" mentioned by NorthEh. Is it the one in the thread N61PH 206 Down in Fountain Hills AZ 2 Fatalities started by nomorehelosforme on 19 Apr 2019? The link to the preliminary report for that accident posted by SimFlightTest didn't work for me.
Potential medical and maintenance issues aside, it would be terrible to think the pilot elected to auto after engine problems and that auto resulted in the failure of a blade (with prior undetected damage) and then subsequent fatal crash.
I am curious what stiffness (especially torsional) and natural frequency requirements are set for the rotor blades? The TSB Canada report indicates initial 206B Van Horn blades had same span and chord as the regular Bell 206B blades, but there would be a lot more to it than that... strength/fatigue (including damage tolerance as TSB discusses), mass and rotational inertia, stiffness in various modes of deflection.
Going back the TSB Canada report, section 1.6.2 also has this: "In the summer of 2020, a newer version of the main rotor blade was approved by the FAA18 and replaced the original part number. The main difference between the 2 versions is that the newer blade has a different carbon fibre ply count and orientation. According to Van Horn, the “[p]ly adjustment along with changes to the mass distribution provides a softer ride […].”
That sounds like marketing speak to me. I wonder whether 'softer ride' equates to efforts to overcome vibration or other issues? I realise the main rotor vibration dynamics of a 206L would be quite different to that of a 206B given Noda-Maticsuspension system on the L.
Potential medical and maintenance issues aside, it would be terrible to think the pilot elected to auto after engine problems and that auto resulted in the failure of a blade (with prior undetected damage) and then subsequent fatal crash.
I am curious what stiffness (especially torsional) and natural frequency requirements are set for the rotor blades? The TSB Canada report indicates initial 206B Van Horn blades had same span and chord as the regular Bell 206B blades, but there would be a lot more to it than that... strength/fatigue (including damage tolerance as TSB discusses), mass and rotational inertia, stiffness in various modes of deflection.
Going back the TSB Canada report, section 1.6.2 also has this: "In the summer of 2020, a newer version of the main rotor blade was approved by the FAA18 and replaced the original part number. The main difference between the 2 versions is that the newer blade has a different carbon fibre ply count and orientation. According to Van Horn, the “[p]ly adjustment along with changes to the mass distribution provides a softer ride […].”
That sounds like marketing speak to me. I wonder whether 'softer ride' equates to efforts to overcome vibration or other issues? I realise the main rotor vibration dynamics of a 206L would be quite different to that of a 206B given Noda-Maticsuspension system on the L.
Last edited by helispotter; 19th Dec 2022 at 21:33.
While I hadn't read the NTSB report (https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=99264) on loss of Bell 206B N61PH on 16 Apr 2019, this article summarises the report:
https://aerossurance.com/safety-mana...est-mast-bump/
NTSB attributed the loss to mast bumping and in turn report the probable cause as: "a result of a sudden displacement of the cyclic stick during a low-G maneuver, leading to mast bumping. Contributing to the accident were the unsecure positioning of the flight test engineer’s laptop computer and the deviation from standard operating procedures to leave the left seat cyclic control installed during the test flight".
https://aerossurance.com/safety-mana...est-mast-bump/
NTSB attributed the loss to mast bumping and in turn report the probable cause as: "a result of a sudden displacement of the cyclic stick during a low-G maneuver, leading to mast bumping. Contributing to the accident were the unsecure positioning of the flight test engineer’s laptop computer and the deviation from standard operating procedures to leave the left seat cyclic control installed during the test flight".
