The body of Robert Christopher Woodhead, the 53-year old helicopter pilot who had been missing after his firefighting helicopter crashed into the Fraser River in British Columbia on Friday, has been found. It was located just south of Saddle Rock, near Spuzzum.
Mr. Woodhead was piloting a Bell 212 and attempting to fill his water bucket when the ship crashed into the river.
The helicopter company he worked for is planning a tribute on Sunday in Lillooet on the bridge over the Fraser River.
Authorities now believe that the pilot who was flying the helicopter that crashed into the Fraser River in British Columbia on Friday is dead. Our sincere condolences to the family and co-workers.
Robert Christopher Woodhead, 53, of Stoney Creek, Ont., was operating a Bell 212 helicopter with a line and water bucket Friday afternoon when the aircraft went down in the Fraser River, near Lytton, B.C.
RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said Mounties believe Woodhead died soon after the chopper crashed in water 15 metres deep and with a swift current.
“We have met and spoken to the family,” Moskaluk said.
“It is believed that Mr. Woodhead perished in the river.”
Woodhead, who was based in B.C., was last seen in the water just after the crash by another pilot who was flying overhead.
That pilot tried to save Woodhead by lowering his own line and bucket into the water but the rescue attempt proved unsuccessful.
Moskaluk said search crews have recovered Woodhead’s flight helmet, as well as pieces of debris from his helicopter, but they have yet to find the man’s body in the water.
“In incidents of this nature, with the incertitude of the person’s fate, it leaves all in a suspended state of deep grief,” he said.
“Our thoughts, along with those of all British Columbians, whose lives and homes were protected in this and in past fire seasons by the courageous efforts of ground firefighters and the pilots assigned to battling these blazes, are with the Woodhead family at this time.”
LYTTON, B.C. — The search continues in the rushing waters of the Fraser River for an Ontario helicopter pilot whose aircraft crashed while fighting one of the many forest fires burning across British Columbia.
The Bell 212, piloted by 53-year-old Robert Christopher Woodhead of Stoney Creek, Ont., was operating as a waterbucket on the 12-square-kilometre Intlpam fire near Lytton late Friday afternoon when it went down.
The helicopter is now submerged in 15 metres of water flowing at about 16 kilometres per hour, but there’s no sign of Woodhead, who was the only person in the aircraft.
Woodhead’s family in Stoney Creek say they aren’t commenting on the search.
Cpl. Dan Moskaluk of the RCMP says the federal Fisheries Department and a local search-and-rescue squad have boats on the water and a Mountie helicopter is searching from the air, but he says the water is too rough to use divers.
Moskaluk says witnesses reported seeing the pilot surface after the crash, prompting the Mounties to focus thier efforts on the water and riverbanks.
The B.C. Forest Service had contracted the chopper, which is the second aircraft the crash this fire season, although this is the first fatal crash.
A single-engine (air tanker) crashed into Okanagan Lake on July 25, but the pilot escaped without injury.
UPDATE at 5:10 p.m. MT, Aug. 15
The story has been updated by the Canadian press at 2:36 p.m. MT today. Here is an excerpt:
KELOWNA, B.C. — An Ontario helicopter pilot who was helping to fight one of British Columbia’s many forest fires was still missing Saturday, a day after another pilot flying overhead was unable to pull the man from the water in a dramatic rescue attempt.
Robert Christopher Woodhead, 53, of Stoney Creek, Ont., was operating a Bell 212 with a waterbucket Friday afternoon when the aircraft when down in the Fraser River near Lytton.
Woodhead, who was based in British Columbia, was last seen in the water just after the crash by another pilot who watched from the air as the helicopter went down, said RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk.
“A valiant attempt was made by lowering his line and bucket into the river near Mr. Woodhead,” Moskaluk said in an interview.
“However, he was not successful in getting the line to him and did eventually lose visual sight of the pilot in the water.”
Moskaluk said police are still considering the search a rescue operation, and are concentrating their efforts on the riverbanks in what is considered a particularly rough part of the Fraser Canyon.
The Fremont Fire Department has set up a web page with the details about the funeral services for Thomas Marovich, who died in a rappelling accident on the Backbone fire on July 21.
More details are at the Fremont site, but here are the funeral arrangements:
Funeral services for Tom are planned on Thursday, July 30th at 10:30 a.m. at Saint Clements Church, 750 Calhoun Street, Hayward (corner of Calhoun and Mission Blvd.). Internment will follow the services at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery (just North of the church on Mission Blvd.) A reception following the services is planned and announcements will be made during the services.
A local resident who saw the single engine amphibious air tanker crash on a lake in British Columbia on Saturday said the Air Tractor 802F’s landing gear was down when it attempted to scoop water to refill its tanks.
Canwest news service
From the Canadian Press:
A father and his son defying an evacuation order to save their waterfront home from a raging forest fire instead ended up in a race to save a waterbomber pilot whose plane had crashed into the lake.
Ed Hall and his son Fraser chose not to leave when 2,200 of their neighbours were ordered to do so on Thursday and the Terrace Mountain fire spread in the hills across the lake from Vernon.
Fraser Hall said he was testing out some new video equipment Saturday, filming as the planes dipped into the lake to get water to dump on the fire.
“And this last guy came in and we looked at each other and said ‘Oh my gosh he’s got his landing gear down,’ and we knew this was a recipe for disaster,” Ed Hall said in an interview Sunday.
The pair watched in stunned amazement as the plane somersaulted along the water.
“But fortunately, the cockpit landed cockpit up. So the pilot was sitting in the cockpit, you know, kind of stunned or dazed or maybe he was unconscious, we’re not sure,” the father said.
Ed said he was already on his way to his boat before the plane hit the water.
An officer in a nearby RCMP zodiac boat arrived at the same time as the Halls and the pilot was pulled out within seconds.
While the officer took the slightly-injured pilot to receive care, the Halls attached a tow rope to the plane, attempting to salvage the plane.
“It went poorly,” Fraser Hall explained. “We were slowly pulling it along and we got about maybe 50 feet and the body slipped off the remainder of one of the pontoons and it headed for the bottom.”
Luckily, he said, the rope snapped, or their boat may have been dragged down with it.
CBC news in Canada is reporting that an air tanker crashed in Okanagan Lake in British Columbia while working on the Terrace Mountain fire.
From CBC news:
Canwest News Service
Transportation Safety Board spokesman Bill Yearwood said the pilot is expected to survive. The cause of the crash hasn’t been determined, Yearwood said.
Bruce Freeborn, who lives along the lake in Fintry Delta, said he was working in his yard Saturday when he heard a loud bang and saw the plane in the water.
“Its nose was under [the water] and its tail section was still up and the tip of one wing was still up,” Freeborn said, adding it was upsetting to see the plane go down when fire crews are struggling to save his home from the blaze.
CTV.ca has more information:
Conair photo
An airtanker plane engaged in fighting forest fires in West Kelowna, B.C., crashed into Okanagan Lake on Saturday, CTV News has confirmed. The pilot was able to escape unhurt.
Rick Pedersen, a spokesman for Conair, said the plane flipped over at around noon while attempting to scoop up water from the lake. But Pedersen said he doesn’t know what caused this to happen.
The AT802 Fire Boss plunged into about 110 metres of water, prompting officials from the Canadian Aviation Safety Board to launch an investigation.
