Families of Canadian Forces members killed in 2020 helicopter crash sue manufacturer

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The families of six Canadian Armed Forces members who died after their helicopter crashed off the coast of Greece three years ago have filed a lawsuit against the aircraft’s American manufacturer, accusing the company of gross negligence and a reckless disregard for safety.

The Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone plunged into the Ionian Sea in April, 2020, while en route to the Halifax-based frigate HMCS Fredericton. Two internal CAF reviews later determined that the helicopter’s autopilot system took control and pitched the aircraft’s nose down, sending it into water at high speed. The crew was unable to regain control.

“Each person experienced unimaginable terror and fright in the moments before the helicopter impacted the water,” says the complaint, filed Wednesday in the Philadelphia federal court against Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Helicopter Support Inc. and Sikorsky International Operations Inc., which are all owned by Lockheed Martin Corp. The U.S. city used to be home to a facility where the helicopters were assembled, upgraded and tested.

The lawsuit alleges Sikorsky knew “but either forgot or ignored” the potential consequences of not completing a rigorous review process and not providing warnings to the pilot of the “potentially fatal consequences of Sikorsky’s design decisions.”

The defendants are seeking damages under the U.S. Death on the High Seas Act and under Pennsylvania laws. The claims have not been proven in court and statements of defence have yet to be filed. Lockheed Martin deferred comment to Sikorsky, which declined to comment on the pending litigation.

The Cyclone helicopter has faced scrutiny for having other problems unrelated to the crash. Last year, Canada’s Department of National Defence (DND) said cracks in the tails of 21 of the military’s 23 Cyclone helicopters are an apparent design flaw believed to be the result of the weight and pressure of equipment installed on the tail. Several power failures have also been identified with the helicopters.

This past March, it was determined that Ottawa would foot the bill to fix the software problem that led to the autopilot glitch in the 2020 crash, but it is unclear if this work has been completed. The federal government had entered into a $9-billion contract with Sikorsky for the delivery and maintenance of 28 Cyclones in 2004.

The 2020 crash killed Master Corporal Matthew Cousins, Sub-Lieutenant Abbigail Cowbrough, Captain Kevin Hagen, Captain Brenden MacDonald, Captain Maxime Miron-Morin and Sub-Lieutenant Matthew Pyke.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges that Sikorsky violated industry standards by not performing an adequate safety analysis or testing of the helicopter, reflecting a “corporate indifference to safety that placed profits first.” In the face of missed deadlines and financial penalties, the complaint alleges, the company “cut corners to rush the CH-148 into service, which resulted in the terrifying and tragic deaths.”

At the time of the crash, the pilot was completing a multi-axis, low altitude manoeuvre that results in a “tight, skidding turn that puts the helicopter on a heading 180 degrees from where it started,” the lawsuit says. It also states that the company’s manual said pilots could manually override autopilot if required, but did not detail any potential dangers in doing so.

The deadly defect has since been referred to as “command model attitude bias.”

Sikorsky, the complaint argues, has defended itself by saying that it did not anticipate that the helicopter would perform a manoeuvre of this type, despite it being well-known exercise. The plaintiffs claim that if Sikorsky had properly tested its electronic flight control system, which maintains certain flight parameters like airspeed or altitude, it would have discovered the defect.

Neither the CAF nor the DND are named in the lawsuit. The DND in a statement said it would be inappropriate to comment on the lawsuit but that it offers its “continued thoughts of condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of those who died in the tragic incident.”

Sikorsky was previously sued in 2010 after a Cougar helicopter crash killed 17 of its 18 passengers off the coast of Newfoundland a year earlier. The lawsuit, which was settled outside of court, accused the company of “reckless behaviour and willful misconduct” in misrepresenting the abilities of the S-92A helicopter, the prototype for the CH-148. Details of the settlement were not made public.