What happened
On the afternoon of a flight in 2013, a Bell 206B helicopter, registered as C-GQQT and operated by Custom Helicopters Ltd., departed from Gillam, Manitoba. The mission was to fly approximately 22 nautical miles west to Gull Lake to collect a group of three passengers who had arrived at that location earlier in the day.
After departing at 1600 Central Daylight Time, the aircraft failed to make further contact with ground personnel. Following the lack of communication, the helicopter was officially reported missing at 2030 that evening. The following morning, search efforts located debris from the aircraft along the shoreline of Gull Lake, roughly half a nautical mile from the intended pickup site. The pilot's body was later recovered from the water six days after the disappearance. While wreckage was identified on the shore, the primary wreckage of the helicopter remained undiscovered despite the use of sonar technology.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the circumstances leading to the loss of the aircraft and the subsequent crash near the shoreline. Investigators examined the flight path and the timeline of the disappearance to determine the sequence of events leading up to the impact.