Families of 6 Canadian Armed Forces members killed in 2020 helicopter crash file lawsuit against manufacturer

More than three years after six Canadian military members were killed in a helicopter crash off the coast of Greece, the victims' families are suing the helicopter manufacturer.

More than three years after a Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone maritime helicopter crashed off the coast of Greece, killing six Canadian military members, the victims' families are suing the helicopter manufacturer.

The families' lawsuit, filed in U.S. Federal Court in Pennsylvania, alleges that the helicopter's defective design caused the crash on April 29, 2020.

It also alleges that the crash happened when the helicopter’s Electronic Flight Control System (“EFCS”) wrested control of the helicopter from its pilots, causing its descent into the Ionian sea at more than 140 miles-per-hour.

Those killed in the crash include the helicopter’s pilots, Captain Brenden Ian MacDonald and Captain Kevin Hagen, Naval Warfare Officer Sub-Lieutenant Matthew Pyke, Airborne Electronic Sensor Operator Master Corporal Matthew Cousins, Airborne Electronic Sensor Operator Maritime Systems Engineering Officer Sub-Lieutenant Abbigail Cowbrough and Air Combat Systems Officer Captain Maxime Miron-Morin.

According to the statement of claim, all six people on board knew they were going to die in the moments before the crash.

“Each person experienced unimaginable terror and fright in the moments before the helicopter impacted the water, causing everyone aboard to suffer fatal injuries,” the claim reads.

The claim says that when the Department of National Defence requested proposals to replace its CH-124 Sikorsky Sea King Helicopter fleet in the 1990s, the EFCS had never been used before in any military helicopter in the world.