Flight Safety Information

   Retraction:  Man hit in head by helicopter 
blade
August 9, 2013  -  No. 164

In This Issue 
RETRACTION: Man hit in head by helicopter blade 



RETRACTION:  The photo provided by the media is not the accident helicopter 
or the accident helicopter service provider.
 
Capitale Helicopters was the accident company.
 
 
***********
 
Man hit in head by helicopter blade 
 
 
A man is recovering in an Edmonton hospital after being struck in the head by a 
helicopter blade in northern Saskatchewan Tuesday. 
 
The man was working as a subcontractor for a company called Discovery International 
Geophysics, which was doing seismic surveying near Forest Lake, about 170 kilometres 
north of La Loche. 
 
Forrest Lake Saskatchewan 
Several employees were being flown to the area by helicopter Tuesday morning. 
 
After the helicopter landed at about 10:30 a.m. CST the man got out, removed his gear, 
and walked to the front of the helicopter. That's where he was struck by the rotor blade. 
 
The helicopter took off to get help, while the other two passengers stayed with the man 
and administered first aid. 
 
"He was unconscious for a while, and he was not breathing for a while," said Dennis 
Woods, president of Discovery International Geophysics. "They, with great due diligence, 
and everything else, they basically saved his life." 
 
The man suffered serious injuries and was taken to hospital in Edmonton. 
 
Officials from the company and some people who know the man said he was recovering 
well and doing much better. 
 
"He is doing fairly good right now from talking to the wife and some other people as well 
that are with him," said Teddy Clark, the owner of Big Bear Contracting, a company the 
injured man had worked for in the past. "He's amazingly going into recovery mode." 
 
The Transportation Safety Board said the front skids of the helicopter may have sunk 
down into the soft ground causing it to be lower than it normally would have been. 
 
The incident is under review. 
 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2013/08/08/sk-helicopter-
accident.html 
 

Curt Lewis