File Photo

The Royal Canadian Air Force’s (RCAF) Directorate of Flight Safety, which is the Canadian Armed Forces’ (CAF) Airworthiness Investigative Authority, has concluded its Flight Safety Investigation into the accident that occurred on June 20, 2023, in the Ottawa River near Garrison Petawawa involving a CH-147F Chinook helicopter that claimed the lives of two CAF members. The helicopter, known by its call-sign Hammer 31, was conducting a nighttime training flight over the river.

The training flight had a crew of four members. Tragically, the two pilots, Captain Marc Larouche and Captain David Domagala, were fatally injured. The two flight engineers egressed the helicopter with minor injuries.

The Flight Safety Investigation determined that as the crew initiated a turning manoeuvre over the river, the aircraft entered a constant but imperceptible descent. None of the crew realized the aircraft’s altitude and/or rate of descent until impact, resulting in a Controlled Flight into Terrain accident.

It concluded that unrecognized downward acceleration, along with environmental conditions that night, were significant contributors to the accident, causing spatial disorientation among the crew.

The complete findings of the investigation and recommendations are detailed in the CH147310 Flight Safety Investigation Report.

The Epilogue to the report can be found on the Flight Safety Investigation Reports webpage. (WARNING: Contains photographs of the crash site)