The crew of the Sikorsky S-76A — dispatched to pick up a seriously ill child from a remote town in Northern Ontario, Canada — was “not operationally ready” for a visual flight rules (VFR) departure from Moosonee, Ontario, Canada, into total darkness, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) says. The emergency medical services (EMS) helicopter crashed after takeoff, killing its two pilots and two paramedics and destroying the helicopter.
Neither pilot possessed “the necessary night- and instrument-flying proficiency to safely complete this flight,” although both were qualified according to regulations, the TSB said.
Nevertheless, the causes of the May 31, 2013, accident “went well beyond the actions of this flight crew,” the TSB added, pointing to actions by the regulator, Transport Canada (TC), and the operator, Ornge Rotor-Wing (RW), which provides air medical transportation from seven rotary-wing and three fixed-wing bases throughout Ontario.
The TSB …
