More than 80% of Cyclone fleet affected

During a routine inspection on 26 November 2021, cracks were discovered within the tail section of a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CH-148 Cyclone helicopter. A special inspection was immediately ordered on all Cyclones to comfirm the extent of the problem. In total, 19 out of 23 helicopters were found to have these cracks.

The Department of National Defence (DND) prioritised the order of repairs to get the helicopters back to service as soon as possible. The entire fleet of CH-148s is encompassed within 12 Wing at CFB Shearwater (N.S.), seventeen of the affected helicopters are operated by 406 Maritime Operational Training Squadron City of Saskatoon and 423 Maritime Helicopter Squadron Eagle in Nova Scotia and six are operated by 443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron Hornet at Victoria IAP - Patricia Bay (B.C.), to support the Royal Canadian Navy's Pacific fleet.

Sikorsky is working with the RCAF to make repairs, according to the department. It is estimated that the repairs to some of the aircraft will be completed in the next few days.

The Cyclone is a twin-engine, multi-role shipboard helicopter developed by the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation for the RCAF. It has been designed for shipboard operations and replaced the venerable CH-124 Sea King, which was in operation from 1963 to 2018. In 2004, Canada awarded Sikorsky Aircraft a contract for 28 Cyclones with deliveries planned to start in 2009. Deliveries were repeatedly delayed due to development problems until the delivery of six initial helicopters in June 2015. On 29 April 2020, CH-148 serial 148822 was lost during operations over the Ionian Sea. The crew of six was unfortunately lost.

Photo by Frank Noort (Scramble Archive)