Military investigating after two troubled helicopter fleets briefly grounded - National Post

Copy URL Facebook Linked In X (Twitter) Loading account options Sign In Manage Account Close account menu Sign Out By Chris Lambie October 31, 2026 at 6:28 a.m. Last Updated: October 31, 2026 at 7:01 a.m. Canada’s military is investigating problems with two different fleets of helicopters, including one that is the same type that crashed this week during an Italian training mission in Bosnia, killing four.

National Defence didn’t respond immediately Friday to a query about whether it had placed limitations on its fleet of 14 Chinook helicopters in the wake of Italy’s tragic crash Thursday that also left 11 injured.

Meanwhile, Canada’s military temporarily suspended flying operations for its fleet of 26 CH-148 Cyclone ship-borne maritime helicopters this week after one of them lost power during takeoff on Oct. 26.

“The Cyclone in question was taking off from the helipad at HMCS Discovery, which is a Royal Canadian Navy reserve unit in Vancouver, when it experienced the power loss, and that’s where it landed,” said David Lavallee, who speaks for 1 Canadian Air Division, the operational-level command and control headquarters of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

“The aircraft landed safely, with no injuries.”

The $5.8-billion fleet is normally used to provide air support for the navy. Their missions include surface and subsurface surveillance, search and rescue and anti-submarine warfare.

“As a precaution, 12 Wing temporarily suspended flying operations at the Wing following the incident. However, after additional analysis, it has been determined that the loss of power is not indicative of a fleet-wide problem, and accordingly, the fleet” was cleared Thursday to resume flying, Lavallee said in an email.

All of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s Cyclones belong to 12 Wing Shearwater, at CFB Halifax, he said. But the air force has operational squadrons on both coasts: 423 Maritime Helicopter Squadron on the East Coast and 443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron on the West Coast, located at Patricia Bay, B.C.

“A maintenance team from 443 Squadron was sent to examine the aircraft (that lost power during takeoff), and 12 Wing is working with experts at the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Assistant Deputy Minister (Material), and Sikorsky (the Cyclone’s manufacturer) to understand what happened,” Lavallee said.

He turned down a request to interview one of the Cyclone pilots involved in the Oct. 26 power loss incident, “as it’s the subject of an investigation” by the RCAF’s Directorate of Flight Safety.

Even before the crash of Italy’s Chinook, Canadian investigators were probing a problem with Canada’s CH-147F Chinooks, which were unavailable in September for a military exercise in the Arctic after an “operational pause” was ordered on Sept. 3 for the military’s fleet of medium-to-heavy-lift helicopters.

“The decision was made after one aircraft experienced a loss of aft transmission oil during a flight on September 2, 2026, due to a failure of the aft transmission main oil pressure switch,” Kened Sadiku, who speaks for National Defence, said in an email.

The pause was lifted on Sept. 9, after inspections on all aircraft were complete and changes were made to some maintenance procedures.

The RCAF, the Department of National Defence, and Boeing, the CH-147F Chinook manufacturer, “worked together to conduct inspections on all 14 aircraft in the fleet to determine whether the issue with the aft transmission main oil pressure switch exists on any other aircraft,” Sadiku said.

“The inspections indicated six aircraft (including the aircraft that experienced the loss of aft transmission oil on Sept. 2) had potential problems with their switches.”

That prompted a directive to “change some maintenance procedures, including increasing torque when installing the switch, and a new requirement that the switch be checked before each flight,” Sadiku said.

There have been no problems with the switches since, and the underlying cause remains under investigation by the RCAF’s Directorate of Flight Safety, he said.

Senior military commanders have been highly critical in the past about the lack of Cyclone helicopters available for deployment with the Royal Canadian Navy’s warships.

Ottawa-based IT-security consultant Steffan Watkins determined recently that nine of Canada’s Cyclones have been flying in the past four weeks or are embarked on Halifax-class frigates. Seven haven’t flown in years, and 10 haven’t flown in months, according to Watkins, who has made an international name for himself tracking military aircraft using open sources.

“There’s been talk about replacing the Cyclones, off and on, for years,” said David Perry, who heads the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. “But I’ve heard it again more recently.”

The defence analyst wouldn’t be surprised to see them replaced.

“If there was a decision to go another way on that fleet, I wouldn’t be shocked because everybody involved in it hasn’t been happy with where the aircraft’s gotten to in terms of performance and operational flying hours,” Perry said.

“Any time you hear somebody speculating about other options on the market, the Seahawk is the option that people point to that might be an alternative.”

The United States Navy flies Sikorsky’s MH-60 Seahawk.

National Defence hasn’t responded to questions Thursday about whether Canada is considering a replacement for the Cyclone helicopters.

“The prime minister … wants to get rid of anything in the military that’s not performing,” said retired colonel Larry McWha, an aviation expert who commanded 423 Maritime Helicopter Squadron at 12 Wing Shearwater, when it flew Sea Kings.

While the military is experimenting with flying helicopter drones from its warships, McWha doubts the Cyclone fleet would be taken out of service overnight if a decision is made to replace them.

“What they would do is just say, ‘We’re getting rid of them and we’re now looking for something to replace them,’ if indeed they’re going to replace them and not go to pure drone naval aviation,” said McWha, who doubts the military will go exclusively with drones aboard ships.

“They will go for a manned aircraft to replace them, there’s no doubt in my mind.”

Cyclones are used to move both cargo and people to and from warships, McWha said.

Drones, like Maritime helicopters, can be used as the eyes and ears of a warship, “and they could deliver weapons as well,” he said.

“But there’s a limit as to what human beings will trust,” McWha said.

“You could use a pilot-less drone for certain things, but nobody’s going to want to go airborne as a passenger in one.”

Nor would you load a patient who needs medical evacuation from a ship into a drone “and tell it to fly to the hospital or a hospital ship,” McWha said.

“If it was me, I would say, ‘Let my appendix burst; I’m not going in that thing.'”

The Chinooks could be employed to move heavy equipment during civil emergencies such as forest fires, McWha said, which has happened before.

“If the government needs you to fly these things in and get stuff in there, it’s extremely important, perhaps even vital,” said McWha, who flew helicopters for 30 years.

“And if it’s in a combat situation, it’s even worse if it’s not available and you need somebody to be extracted immediately from a hilltop or something and nobody’s there to get them out, it’s bad,” McWha said.

Canada signed a $5-billion contract with Boeing for the purchase and maintenance of Chinook helicopters in 2009. They were delivered over several years starting in 2013. Full operational capacity was reached years later in 2018.

Canada’s air force also flies CH-146 Griffon tactical aviation helicopters and CH-149 Cormorants, a medium-lift transport and search-and-rescue helicopter.

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