Helicopter missing in the Med
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Helicopter missing in the Med
Norwegian news is reporting that a helicopter operating from a Canadian warship is missing between Italy and Greece. No further news.
Canadian military helicopter reported missing while operating in Mediterranean
Defence officials are scrambling following reports a Canadian military helicopter has gone missing while participating in a NATO operation in the Mediterranean Sea.
Greek TV says the helicopter, which is believed to have been one of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s new Cyclones, went missing in the sea between Greece and Italy while operating off a Canadian frigate.
A NATO spokeswoman confirmed an incident involving a helicopter from a ship under NATO command and says a search-and-rescue operation is underway, but did not reveal the nationality of the aircraft or vessels.
HMCS Fredericton left Halifax for a six-month deployment around Europe in January with a Cyclone on board, which included a port call in Italy in March.
The military’s 18 Cyclone helicopters carry four-person crews and first began flying real missions in late 2018 after more than a decade of developmental challenges and delays.
Greek TV says the helicopter, which is believed to have been one of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s new Cyclones, went missing in the sea between Greece and Italy while operating off a Canadian frigate.
A NATO spokeswoman confirmed an incident involving a helicopter from a ship under NATO command and says a search-and-rescue operation is underway, but did not reveal the nationality of the aircraft or vessels.
HMCS Fredericton left Halifax for a six-month deployment around Europe in January with a Cyclone on board, which included a port call in Italy in March.
The military’s 18 Cyclone helicopters carry four-person crews and first began flying real missions in late 2018 after more than a decade of developmental challenges and delays.
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Very sad - RIP - hope they locate and recover wreckage to try and work out what happened. Shame that Echo or Enterprise isn't in the Med... hopefully, someone has got something close-by that can locate it.
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SEE: RCAF CH-148 down in the Ionian Sea, 1 dead, 5 missing...
And........"a deadly 2009 crash of a Sikorsky-built helicopter".......well, that's here: Helicopter crash off the coast of Newfoundland - 18 aboard, March 2009
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SEE: RCAF CH-148 down in the Ionian Sea, 1 dead, 5 missing...
According to a June 23, 2014 report.....“The Conservative government has agreed to accept new helicopters to replace Canada’s 50-year-old fleet of Sea Kings even though they don’t meet a key requirement recommended for marine helicopters by Canada’s air safety investigator.....the government has agreed to forego...a formerly mandatory safety measure: a 30-minute run-dry standard for its main gear box. The importance of the ability to fly for 30 minutes after a loss of lubrication in the main gear box was reinforced by an investigation into a deadly 2009 crash of a Sikorsky-built helicopter. The gearbox is a kind of linkage between the helicopters engines and its rotor system. It’s packed with lubricating oil that cools the gears and keeps power flowing to the rotors. If a helicopter loses oil in its main gearbox, the system will get too hot and either seize up or otherwise fail. That would lead to a loss of power in the rotor, forcing a helicopter from the sky. A helicopter that meets the run-dry standard can continue flying for 30 minutes even if there’s no oil in the main gear box — a critical feature for helicopters flying hundreds of kilometres out to sea.” https://theaviationist.com/2020/04/3...Cu63ALQ-SNxyk1k
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gwillie
So you are quite sure that it is gearbox case, again...
Mean, nothing else can go wrong out there in the middle of nothing?!
So you are quite sure that it is gearbox case, again...
Mean, nothing else can go wrong out there in the middle of nothing?!
Last edited by atakacs; 2nd May 2020 at 11:17.
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From CBC news
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said the Cyclone’s flight-data and voice recorders have been recovered after they broke away from the helicopter when it crashed and will soon be returned to Canada for analysis.
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said the Cyclone’s flight-data and voice recorders have been recovered after they broke away from the helicopter when it crashed and will soon be returned to Canada for analysis.
It must be catastrophic whatever happened. Naval aircraft are not short of radio communication devices and if it just disappeared without an emergency call then then whatever it was must have been almost instantaneous.
Apart from the likelihood of CFIT due to the lack of distress comms, there really is nothing in the public domain to go on. To start speculatively grasping at the S-92's weaknesses is currently a waste of time even by pprune's standards! Reports state that they have the recorders, so somebody will know more soon.
(Military aviator).
What did you mean by "flares deployed?" That, or something else?
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he flight data recorders were recovered from the debris and are to be analyzed at the National Research Council in Ottawa.
In an interview with CBC News that took place before the search switched to recovery mode, Sajjan acknowledged the difficulty involved in reaching wreckage that may be as much as 3,000 metres below the surface of the Ionian Sea.
Few nations possess that kind of deep-diving capability and Sajjan said he's been talking to NATO's secretary general and allies about the technological options.
"I can assure you we will put in all of the resources necessary," said Sajjan who expressed confidence in the investigation team. "Our folks on the ground will figure what happened."
The debris also is believed to be spread over a wide area on the ocean floor. One expert said that spread suggests something about the forces involved in the crash.
"It suggests a high speed impact" with the ocean, said Michael Byers, a University of British Columbia defence expert who has testified before the Senate on search and rescue.
"That will obviously increase the challenges of the recovery operation, but until we have something that can actually go down there — even just to take pictures — we really won't know what happened to the aircraft."
In an interview with CBC News that took place before the search switched to recovery mode, Sajjan acknowledged the difficulty involved in reaching wreckage that may be as much as 3,000 metres below the surface of the Ionian Sea.
Few nations possess that kind of deep-diving capability and Sajjan said he's been talking to NATO's secretary general and allies about the technological options.
"I can assure you we will put in all of the resources necessary," said Sajjan who expressed confidence in the investigation team. "Our folks on the ground will figure what happened."
The debris also is believed to be spread over a wide area on the ocean floor. One expert said that spread suggests something about the forces involved in the crash.
"It suggests a high speed impact" with the ocean, said Michael Byers, a University of British Columbia defence expert who has testified before the Senate on search and rescue.
"That will obviously increase the challenges of the recovery operation, but until we have something that can actually go down there — even just to take pictures — we really won't know what happened to the aircraft."
