A massive boom and a giant flash interrupted a scheduled Helijet flight travelling between Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia, on Oct. 24.
The Sikorsky S-76C helicopter was fully loaded with 12 passengers and two pilots when it was struck by lightning over B.C.’s Southern Gulf Islands at about 9:30 a.m. local time.
Following the strike, “it’s our understanding the pilots’ instruments went temporarily blank — the screens went black for a few seconds, and then they came back on,” Helijet president and CEO Daniel Sitnam told Vertical. “It was a very busy time in that cockpit.”
He confirmed the strike occurred at an altitude of 4,000 feet.
Following the incident, passengers told media outlets the aircraft descended rapidly — reportedly to as little as 1,300 feet — before it levelled off and continued on to Victoria. The helicopter landed safely at the Victoria Harbour (Camel Point) Heliport. Sitnam said all 14 people on board were physically unharmed.
Upon landing, it was noticed that two of the helicopter’s four tail rotor blades were missing, and the horizontal stabilizer showed additional signs of damage. The S-76C tail rotor has a total diameter of eight feet.
Sitnam said the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is conducting an investigation and he declined to provide further details on damage to the aircraft or the events surrounding its descent and eventual landing in Victoria.
He said the pilots — who are “mentally processing what happened” — will be interviewed by TSB investigators, who were expected to arrive in Vancouver on Oct. 30.
Meanwhile, he confirmed the helicopter is on “lockdown.” On Oct. 28, it was transported by ground from Victoria to the Helijet facility in Vancouver, where it will be inspected.
Sitnam said another Helijet aircraft, an S-76A helicopter, encountered a similar situation in the mid-1990s.
“It was hit by lightning and it was on our scheduled airline business. There were similarities — loud bangs were identified with simultaneous white light.”
The helicopter involved in the recent incident, registration C-GXHJ, was manufactured in 2007. Transport Canada issued a certificate of registration to Helijet for the aircraft on Sept. 14, 2023.
This is a developing situation with more to follow as the investigation unfolds.
Lightning strikes to aircraft are quite an interesting field of study. At one time, the only US Army helicopter with a published “After Lightning Strike” special inspection was the UH-1H. I know because I was the engineer that wrote it. However, in the 1970’s, we didn’t have all the electronic components to deal with and our inspection was pretty much limited to structural components and flight controls. It will be interesting to see the TSB report.