Manitoban helicopter pilot dies after falling into crevasse in Antarctica
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A Manitoba helicopter pilot died Tuesday as the result of a bizarre accident while working in Antarctica.
David Wood, 62, fell into a crevasse, was rescued and taken back to Davis research station in critical condition on Monday. He died the next day.
“Without a doubt, it’s a tragedy,” Stan McNevin, a long-time friend, said from Whitehorse. “I’ve known Dave for years. He was an excellent friend and a good family guy. He was also a highly skilled pilot.
“With the conditions in Antarctica, I would have thought it would have been a crash, not falling into a crevasse.”
Wood was working with the Australian government at Davis station, a permanent base there.
He was flying one of two helicopters that were “sling loading” fuel to a depot on the West Ice Shelf, which is northeast of Davis station, the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) said in a release. After the drums were dropped, the pilots landed to retrieve the equipment they had been using. That’s when Wood fell down a chasm, dropping 20 metres, where he would remain for about three hours. The other pilot was unable to assist Wood, so he flew back to Davis station for help, a 45-minute trip. A search and rescue team returned, hauled Wood out of the crevasse and flew him back to the research station, where he succumbed to his injuries, the division said.
Wood will be missed in Canada.
“He was well known throughout the Yukon,” McNevin said.
Wood had also worked for Fireweed Helicopters in Whitehorse, flying charters and fighting fires.
“He had been working for me for 16 years,” said Fireweed president/operations manager Bruno Meili. “He was just a super guy and a top-notch pilot.
“It’s a real shame and real unfortunate. I’m still trying to get my head around it.”
Meili said Wood had never been in a crash in more than 30 years of flying, mostly in the Arctic and Antarctic.
Wood leaves behind a wife and two older children in Manitoba and an ex-wife and two grown children in Australia, McNevin said.
The plan is to take Wood’s body to Australia, then back to Canada, McNevin said.
Neither friend had been able to get in touch with his wife, Mary McDonald.
“Mr. Wood was a respected colleague and friend to many in the Australian Antarctic program, with which he has been involved for a number of years,” the AAD said in its release.
— With files from the Canadian Press
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