Helicopter Crash Near Fort McMurray Kills Pilot, Alberta Biologist

The Wood Buffalo RCMP continue to investigate the helicopter crash that occurred on May 29, 2013. Police are working in partnership with several outside agencies including the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) who have been engaged in this matter. (RCMP PHOTO)

EDMONTON - A provincial wildlife biologist has been identified as one of two victims of a helicopter that crashed in a remote area north of Fort McMurray Wednesday.

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees identified the the victim as Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development biologist Kristina Norstrom, who perished Wednesday along with the pilot — 35-year-old Bryce Colin Campbell. A second wildlife biologist on board the chopper — Simon Slater – survived and remains in Fort McMurray hospital.


Officials say the pair, along with the pilot, were tracking Alberta’s caribou population, collecting radio collars that had fallen off — a mission which may have required the Bell 206B helicopter to fly at fairly low altitudes.
The Transportation Safety Board is investigating the wreck.

Around noon Wednesday, RCMP and the Canadian Forces sent aircraft to the scene — a remote and heavily wooded area about 128 km north of Fort McMurray.

The downed helicopter was with Fort McMurray-based Aurora Helicopters Ltd.
Help for families

Officials with the AUPE are working with the provincial government to help the families involved.
“We’ve offered any kind of support that they would need,” said AUPE spokesman Tyler Bedford.
Norstrom was based out of Athabasca and was said to have been a member of the union for about a decade.

She was also a member of the Alberta Society of Professional Biologists.

Campbell, the pilot, was described as a “true outdoorsman” who lived his life “every day to the fullest,” says family.

Campbell is a “loving husband and father” and “bigger than life” character, said his family in a statement. “His family was the light of his life.”

Campbell, who was born and raised in Calgary, lived in Golden, B.C. with his fiancée Melanie Lapierre and their eight-month-old daughter Maya.

He was working for a helicopter company in Golden a few months ago, until he took a job with Wood Buffalo Helicopters based in Fort McMurray.

His family said Campbell was “outgoing, loved the mountains and loved being a dad.”

Erez Raz, vice-president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, sent condolences to Campbell and Norstrom’s families in a statement Thursday.

“Our union sends its deepest sympathy to the family of Kristina and to the family of the pilot who was killed along with her.”

“We’re pleased to hear Simon Slater, who survived the crash, is doing well in hospital.”
Campbell, who went to Lord Beaverbrook high school in Calgary, passed his pilot proficiency check for the 2013 flying season last month, according to a post on his Facebook account.


Source: Edmontonsun