What happened
On 19 November 2018, a student pilot departed from Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, operating a privately owned Eurocopter EC120B helicopter, registration C-FSII. The flight was a solo mission intended to conclude at the Mirabel Hélico heliport near Mirabel, Quebec, with an expected arrival time of approximately 1300 Eastern Standard Time.
After the aircraft failed to arrive at the destination and ceased all radio communications, the pilot's instructor notified the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Trenton, Ontario, at 1320. Following the report, a search operation was launched involving a Canadian Forces Hercules CC130 and a Griffon CH146 helicopter. The wreckage of C-FSII was located the following afternoon, 20 November 2018, in a forested area on a hillside roughly 5 nautical miles west of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec. The impact caused substantial damage to the helicopter, though no fire occurred after the crash. The student pilot sustained fatal injuries.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the flight path and the circumstances leading to the loss of contact. Investigators confirmed that the aircraft had been flying solo and that no signal from an emergency locator transmitter was detected during the search operations.