Helicopter Crashes – Two Injured Working on Heartland Power Line

A Hughes 500 helicopter crashed late this afternoon near Fort Saskatchewan in the County of Sturgeon, Alberta (Edmonton Journal, Global News). The pilot and one lineman were sent to hospital with serious injuries. The men were working on the controversial double circuit 500 kilovolt Heartland Transmission Project. The lineman fell out of the helicopter from an unknown height. Massive Heartland towers are the tallest ever built in Alberta.

Local governments and concerned and directly impacted citizens and businesses had pleaded for 4 years to have the Heartland power line buried for safety, health, environmental, property value, aesthetic and economic reasons.

The Heartland line is being built by AltaLink, EPCOR and scandal-plagued SNC-Lavalin (AltaLink’s Quebec-based parent company).

For more examples of aircraft crashes caused by overhead power lines, see Airplane, Helicopter and Hot Air Balloon Accidents Due to Overhead Power Lines.

~ by RETA on July 5, 2013.