Canadian military identifies those aboard helicopter crash

Starting from top left: Sub-Lieutenant Abbigail Cowbrough, a Maritime Systems Engineering Officer; Sub-Lieutenant Matthew Pyke, Naval Warfare Officer; Master Corporal Matthew Cousins, Airborne Electronic Sensor Operator; Captain Maxime Miron-Morin, Air Combat Systems Officer; Captain Kevin Hagen, Pilot; Captain Brenden Ian MacDonald, Pilot. Photo courtesy National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces

 

By Thomas I. Likness
EBC Edmonton Bureau

EDMONTON (Eagle News) — The Canadian military has identified the six people aboard a Cyclone helicopter that crashed during NATO exercises off the coast of Greece Wednesday evening.

The body of Sub.-Lt. Abbigail Cowbrough, of Halifax, Nova Scotia has been recovered. She was a marine systems engineering officer.

Also aboard the Cyclone helicopter and still missing are Capt. Brenden MacDonald, a pilot from New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, Capt. Kevin Hagen, a pilot originally from Nanaimo, B-C, Capt. Maxime Miron-Morin, an air combat systems officer originally from Trois-Rivières, Québec, Sub-Lt. Matthew Pyke, a naval weapons officer originally from Truro, Nova Scotia, and Master Cpl. Matthew Cousins, an airborne electronic sensor operator originally from Guelph, Ontario.

“All of them are heroes, each of them will leave a void that cannot be filled” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “On behalf of all Canadian, I want to offer my deepest support to their families, their friends, their shipmates and their fellow CAF members.”

“There are no words to describe the pain you feel right now, there are any words to ease it,” said Chief of Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance. “This is a time of agony for families, friends and fellow crew members.”

“There is nothing worse than sending your shipmates over the horizon and losing contact,” Vance added.

The remaining 17 Cyclone helicopters have been put on what the military calls an operational pause until a fleet-wide problem can be ruled out, he said.

“I don’t have concerns about the helicopter,” Vance said. “It’s performed terrifically. It’s got 9,000 hours on the fleet.”

The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder have been recovered.

“The recorders broke away from the helicopter on the crash and floated and they had a beacon that’s automatically set off and the ship’s crew was able to find the beacon and recovered it,” explained Vance.

“The cause of this accident is unknown at this time,” said Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan. “Search efforts are ongoing for the remaining five members.”

Investigators are being dispatched to Greece to look into the circumstances of the accident.

The helicopter was manufactured by Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky unit.

(Eagle News Service)