Transportation Safety Board report details lead-up to fatal B.C. helicopter accident

The Transportation Safety Board has found that a pilot missed important steps on a checklist during maintenance work before one worker was injured and another killed by the tail rotor of a helicopter at a B.C. airport.

The board’s report released on Wednesday into the fatal accident said one pilot and two workers were conducting maintenance ground run operations on the helicopter at Smithers Airport on May 6, 2023, when the aircraft unexpectedly rotated 540 degrees. 

The report said both workers on the ground were hit by the helicopter’s tail rotor, killing one and severely injuring the other. 

“The pilot expressed to the maintenance staff members that he was interested in following a live sporting event using his cellphone, which he brought into the cockpit,” the report said. “He was wearing a Bluetooth earbud in his left ear and listening to music playing through the earpiece.”

The noise from the running aircraft, the board’s report said, meant the maintenance workers used hand signals to tell the pilot when to power up or shut down the helicopter. 

There were three ground runs, with the first two each lasting a few minutes as the workers made adjustments between shutdowns, it said. 

The pilot, the investigation found, had started the shutdown process after the second run and was “observed holding and interacting with his cellphone while the main rotor blades were spooling down.” 

He’d been taking steps on a checklist from memory on the stop and start process for the helicopter, the report said, but had used an “abbreviated version of the steps” to start it for the third run. 

After the aircraft’s engine was started for the third time, one of its pedals was engaged and the helicopter began rotating “quickly.” 

“The helicopter suddenly lifted slightly and began to rotate to the right,” the report said. “The pilot had his head down at the time, and when he looked up, he realized the helicopter was rotating.”

It said both ground workers tried to get out of the way, but were stuck multiple times by the tail rotor, and the board found the pilot had been using his cellphone periodically, “distracting him from the maintenance ground run operations.”

“Although the pilot was looking down at the time of the helicopter rotation, it could not be determined whether the cellphone had distracted him at that moment,” the report said. 

“The investigation determined that the pilot’s attention was not fully focused on conducting the maintenance ground run operations, given that they were viewed as routine and repetitive.” 

The board’s report said it has identified the risks of cellphone use in other accidents in the past, but Canada has no regulations banning their use in the aircraft cockpits. 

“It is clear that portable electronic devices (PEDs) can divert attention from activities that are necessary for safe operations,” the report said. 

Mustang Helicopters Inc., the aircraft’s owner, changed procedures after the accident, and also created a distraction policy requiring the “stowing (of) electronic devices,” the report said. 

Investigations by the Transportation Safety Board are only for the purpose of “advancing transportation safety” and reports can’t be used to “assign fault or determine civil or criminal liability.”

A lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court in Kelowna in May 2025 said Justen Smuland worked for Mustang Helicopters and was killed in the accident in Smithers. 

The man’s parents, Cherylle and Rodney Smuland, are suing Mustang, two maintenance employees and a pilot, and the aircraft’s manufacturer Airbus Helicopters Canada Ltd.

The Smulands’ lawsuit alleges that their son was conducting routine maintenance on the helicopter when he was killed, and the defendants failed to “follow company and industry standard safety protocols.” 

“As a result of the death of Justen, the plaintiffs have been deprived of the love, affection, companionship and other benefits of the family relationship,” the lawsuit says. 

The Smulands’ lawyer did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. 

Mustang Helicopters and the employee defendants have not filed responses to the lawsuit, and the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the board’s report into the accident. 

Airbus Helicopters denied the allegations in a response to the claim filed in April 2026, disputing any claims of negligence on its part or that there were any defects in the aircraft. 

The board’s investigation report said “no defects were identified that would have affected the normal functioning of the helicopter.” 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2026. 

By Darryl Greer | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.