TSB report on remote Labrador helicopter crash says pilot attempted to land on ice in low visibility

Maddie Ryan · CBC

· Posted: Mar 25, 2025 12:56 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

A chopper aviator was trying to marque a precautionary landing connected a frozen water successful distant Labrador during atrocious wintertime upwind erstwhile they clang landed successful May 2024.

That's the decision of a Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) probe into a chopper collision connected Lewis Lake, astir 50 kilometres southwest of Postville, connected Labrador's northbound coast.

The aviator — who was the lone idiosyncratic travelling successful the Custom Helicopters aircraft — had planned to alert from Happy Valley-Goose Bay successful cardinal Labrador, to Nunavut to enactment successful the Polar Continental Shelf Program's technological research.

The aviator arrived astatine the Goose Bay Airport connected April 28, according to the TSB report, and for each of the adjacent 3 days had planned to alert the 860-nautical-mile route, but each time felt the conditions weren't suitable. 

Finally, connected May 2, helium changed his caput and took to the aerial contempt reduced visibility and unreality ceilings owed to a airy snowfall. 

The aviator flew toward Hopedale astatine a reduced velocity aft determining conditions would amended on the Labrador coast. 

Visibility decreased arsenic the aviator headed toward Postville, truthful helium made a 180-degree crook southwest. When visibility decreased erstwhile again aft an effort to caput person toward his destination, helium made different 180-degree turn.

WATCH | Video from May 2024 shows chopper wreckage: 

That's erstwhile the aviator recovered himself adjacent a frozen Lewis Lake, and tried to marque a precautionary landing, the study said. 

"The mediocre visibility caused the aviator to misjudge his tallness supra crushed successful the descent," the TSB study reads. "The chopper struck the frozen aboveground of Lewis Lake [...] portion travelling parallel to, and astir 700 feet from, the northbound shoreline of the lake."

The chopper rolled upside down aft hitting the ice.

Safety and survival

The chopper aviator was operating a ocular formation rules flight, meaning helium depended chiefly connected eyesight and wide conditions for navigation. He besides utilized navigation charts displayed connected a tablet app.

"The craft had a Sentry Plus portable automatic babelike surveillance-broadcast receiver connected committee that incorporated a planetary positioning strategy receiver and an cognition and heading notation system; however, the aviator did not crook it connected oregon brace it to the tablet," the study said.

According to Transport Canada, craft from the Manitoba-based Custom Helicopters are allowed to run successful immoderate reduced-visibility conditions. Its procedures nonstop pilots not to alert implicit snowfall oregon ice-covered surfaces with "poor ocular notation to the ground."

The helicopter's landing cogwheel skids, rotor assembly and process roar were each heavy damaged connected impact, and its windscreens and chin bubbles were shattered.

The aviator was picked up by search and rescue crews astir 3:30 p.m. connected May 2, and changed from his bedewed apparel to adust apparel portion taking structure successful the wreckage arsenic helium waited. He lone had insignificant injuries.

The TSB study said Custom Helicopters developed grooming scenarios for ocular formation rules, and the committee made recommendations to pilots heading connected akin journeys.

"Pilots are reminded to program ahead, see strategies to debar adverse weather, and person alternate plans should specified upwind beryllium encountered."

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