Canadian Helicopter Wrecks at Sleeping Beauty
What: Bailey Helicopters Ltd.Eurocopter AS 350B2 AStar flying out of CYXJ/Fort St John General Airport
Where: Sleeping Beauty Mountain. Terrace BC, Canada
When: June 1, 2012
Who: 3 aboard, 3 fatalities
Why: At nine oclock, ATC lost contact with a training flight flown by 45-year-old Peter Bryant. Two other Bailey Helicopter employees were also aboard.
A search and rescue team including a Canadian Armed Forces Buffalo fixed-wing aircraft and a Cormorant helicopter out of Comox were all deployed to the electronic flight tracking system location and confirmed that the Eurocopter crashed in poor weather (described as “horrible”) into Sleeping Beauty Mountain. The area was undergoing rain and snow, and considered unsafe by an avalanche technician. One rescue searcher hiked to the crash site.
The remains have now been recovered, though it was a hazardous recovery, during which an avalanche occurred.
