SHUTTERSTOCK/SINGERGM


ACCIDENT RECOVERY


By David Jack Kenny


Blowing in the Wind


Questionable maneuvering, faulty weather assessment leave two pilots seriously injured.


I


T’S AN AVIATION CLICHÉ, but sayings don’t become clichés without containing some morsel of broadly accepted truth: We deal with the


weather that’s occurring, not the weather that was fore- cast. Forecasts aren’t exact and are as likely to be opti- mistic as pessimistic, so plans for a flight in conditions already expected to be difficult need to allow for the prospect that things could be even worse. Whether it’s rescheduling, rerouting, or just returning home while that’s still an option, the student-pilot lesson of “always give yourself a way out” never stops being relevant.


The Mission At 9:35 am Pacific on Mar. 5, 2021, a Bell 212 crewed by two pilots lifted off from the Sechelt Aerodrome (CAP3) on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast. The pilots’ desti- nation was the staging area for a BC Hydro construction project about 21 nautical miles (nm) to the east in Cypress Provincial Park, where they were tasked with conducting several days of external-load operations sup-


52 ROTOR DECEMBER 2022


porting the construction of 230-kV transmission lines. Their planned route crossed the Howe Sound just


north of Keats Island, then the Collingwood Channel and Bowen Island. The park is the site of a ski area, and ter- rain along the flight path is rugged, rising from sea level to 2,388-ft. Mount Gardner, the highest point at the southern end of a long mountain ridge on the west side of Bowen Island, then on to 4,714-ft. Mount Strachan and 4,016-ft. Black Mountain within the park itself.


The Aircraft The Bell 212 is a twin-engine helicopter with a single two-blade, semirigid teetering main rotor powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6T-3B turboshaft engines. Each engine has an independent hydraulic system fed by an unpressurized reservoir mounted on the upper deck of the fuselage. Both systems provide boost assistance to the main-rotor flight controls, but only the No. 1 sys- tem boosts the antitorque pedals. A Bell 212 in standard configuration can seat up to


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