SUNDRE – No one was seriously hurt when a privately-owned helicopter experienced issues and sustained damage during an unplanned landing over the holidays.
The Sundre RCMP detachment’s commander, Sgt. Trent Sperlie, said the Boxing Day incident had been called into the department, but added no information had indicated that anybody had been injured as a result, and that Mounties were not deployed to the scene.
“It was described as a hard landing with significant damage,” he said, adding the incident was reported to federal authorities.
A spokesperson with the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) confirmed the Dec. 26 incident that happened around 1:05 p.m. in the vicinity of Cutoff Creek had been reported to the agency.
The aircraft involved was a privately-owned and operated Bell 206B3, the spokesperson wrote by email in response to follow-up questions.
While the agency was “still gathering information” about the incident, the occurrence was categorized as a Class 5 occurrence, they said.
There are six classes of occurrences, per the agency’s website, with a Class 5 occurrence described as having “little likelihood of identifying new safety lessons that will advance transportation safety.”
While such incidents may involve fatalities or serious injuries, there is little or no release of dangerous goods as well as minimal damage to either property or the environment. The spokesperson said TSB did not deploy investigators to the site.
As per the agency’s classification system, a Class 5 occurrence’s investigation process can involve the gathering of data with or without deployment.
“Class 5 occurrences are not subject to comprehensive investigations followed by an investigation report,” said the spokesperson.
“However, data on Class 5 occurrences are recorded in suitable scope for possible future safety analysis, statistical reporting, or archival purposes.”