Sea King crash fiasco revealed
By DEAN BEEBY
Canadian Press
HALIFAX, Sunday, June 22, 2003 — The embarrassing crash of a Sea King helicopter aboard a navy ship is sounding alarms about whether sailors and pilots are adequately prepared for emergencies.
Investigators have found that a major firefighting system on the destroyer HMCS Iroquois could not be used in the Feb. 27 incident because the operator did not understand how it worked.
And a second such system failed because testing procedures were so poorly designed they did not reveal a long-standing mechanical fault.
The air force is also raising questions about whether Sea King pilots are getting enough training for flight emergencies in which one of the aircraft‘s two engines fail.
The training issues are outlined in a series of internal documents about the crash investigation obtained under the Access to Information Act.
The 40-year-old Sea King crashed on the deck of Iroquois shortly after lifting off for a training flight as the ship was en route to the Arabian Sea to help fight terrorism. One of its engines had quit.
The chopper tipped over on its side, spraying shrapnel from the disintegrating rotor blades. The tail also broke off, hitting a rocket launcher.
At least six pieces of shrapnel pierced the hangar doors, one piece breaking the hand of a sailor. The four Sea King crew escaped, two of them with minor injuries.
The recently filled fuel tanks spilled their entire contents onto the flight deck. And 2,200 rounds of live 7.62-mm ammunition from the aircraft scattered like confetti.
An Iroquois crew member pulled a handle to trigger the ship‘s primary firefighting system to spread a dry chemical and foam. Nothing happened.
Investigators later determined that cables had been installed incorrectly, even though routine maintenance earlier indicated they were functional, the documents show.
The maintenance procedures "lacked any provision for testing and proving [that] the pull stations would trip the nitrogen cylinder activation mechanisms," says a navy report.
A crew member then pressed a button to trigger a backup system, but was unaware it requires between 35 and 40 seconds to respond. When there was no immediate response, he pressed the button again — unaware that this only shut down the system.
He pressed the button four more times, each time unaware that he was turning it on and off, investigators found. Console light bulbs that might have alerted the operator to the problem were burned out.
A minute or more passed before firefighters were forced to use a manual system to get foam onto the deck.
No fire broke out. Hundreds of kilograms of fuel and all the ammunition was later dumped into the sea about 1,000 kilometres southwest of Halifax.
A navy spokeswoman said Iroquois‘ cable system has been fixed, as well as cables on two other destroyers.
Lt.-Cmdr. Denise LaViolette also said crew are now being told about the delay in arming the secondary system.
"In the training phases, they are now hammering the fact there‘s a ... delay," she said.
The air force, meanwhile, is investigating whether pilots are being put at risk because they no longer receive "realistic" training in how to survive an engine failure, says an internal report.
The military had to curtail such training because more powerful engines recently installed in the fleet can damage the main gearbox if one is deliberately shut down.
In addition, the air force‘s archaic flight simulator has no visual component to simulate what a pilot would see outside his window — crucial in responding to an engine failure.
"Pilot emergency training offers very little realism and may at times introduce negative training" or bad habits, says a report.
A spokesman for 12 Wing Shearwater, where the Sea Kings are based, said the air force is investigating whether visuals can be added to the flight simulator.
Lt.-Col. Bruce Ploughman added he did not know whether inadequate training was a factor in the crash. "I honestly couldn‘t even hazard a guess," he said.
The chief investigator in the crash said training standards will be examined.
"We want to take a look in this case at single-engine training. Is it adequate, was it adequate?" Major Paul Dittmann said from Ottawa.
Test results received last week confirm that an engine-related failure was the likely cause of the accident, he said.
Canada‘s Sea King‘s have suffered four fatal crashes in which 10 people have died. The original fleet of 41 aircraft has been culled to 28 because of crashes and ditchings.
Replacement aircraft were ordered in 1992 but were cancelled by the new Liberal government in 1993. The government has promised but not yet ordered new helicopters in a lengthy and controversial procurement process.
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