The 9,800-hour pilot — recently hired as chief pilot — was completing an autorotation1 during a routine training flight when the Aerospatiale AS 350B entered a fully developed vortex ring state (VRS). The training pilot took the controls to exit the VRS, but the helicopter struck the ground, bounced, and struck the ground again, with at least one main rotor blade entering the cabin and fatally striking the newly hired pilot.
The May 2, 2025, crash near Whitehorse/Erik Nielsen (Yukon, Canada) International Airport destroyed the helicopter, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) said in its final report on the accident.
The report did not discuss the condition of the training pilot other than to say that he had exited the helicopter; called the operator, Horizon Helicopters; and requested emergency services.
The training pilot, with 13,000 flight hours, had an airline transport pilot license for both airplanes and helicopters and was exp…
