Canadian CH-149 Cormorant Crash
IFA Comment: It may not always seem that inspecting a seat is a key task but there’s good reason to get this right every time.
By Vertical Magazine July 28 2023
A sudden, unexpected drop in seat height instigated a series of events that led to a crash that destroyed a CH-149 Cormorant helicopter on a training flight in 2022, according to a report from the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND)’s Airworthiness Investigative Authority.
The authority has issued its final report on the incident, which resulted in serious injuries to two of the helicopter’s six occupants and minor injuries to four occupants on a flight out of 9 Wing Gander in the Atlantic province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
An investigation found the pilot’s flying seat “unexpectedly descended to its lowest position” during the final clockwise hover turn sequence at the end of a training mission primarily focused on overland search-and-rescue (SAR) evolutions.
