From Crash to Clarity: Understanding Helicopter Accidents

This social and technical networking event hosted by the Montréal-Ottawa Chapter of the Vertical Flight Society will address the topics of helicopter flight safety and incident investigation, through the presentations of our two invited speakers:

1. Jean-Pierre “JP” Régnier, Senior Accident Investigator, Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB)
2. Benoit Albert, Principal Flight Safety Officer and Air Safety Investigator, Bell Textron Canada Limited (BTCL)

• Tuesday, November 26, 2024
• 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm — Doors will open at 5:30 pm for networking, and the speaker presentations will begin at 6:30 pm.
• 2nd floor of the 3 Brasseurs Restaurant in Centropolis Laval (click here for the Google Maps link)
• 2900 Av. Pierre-Péladeau, Laval, QC H7T 3B3
• Dinner is not included, but some appetizers will be provided. Additional food & drink can be ordered from Les 3 Brasseurs at your own expense.

The Montreal-Ottawa Chapter of the Vertical Flight Society is happy to present an in-person event in the Montreal region on November 26th, 2024. The theme of the evening will be the investigation of helicopter incidents and accidents, with a focus on some of the technical cause factors for some recent accidents.

Starting with an introduction to the Transportation Safety Board (TSB), Jean-Pierre “JP” Régnier will present a review of vertical lift-related accidents that have occurred over the last four years. The cases presented will include accidents for which the main cause factor was technical in nature, within the accident’s chain of events.

Benoit Albert will follow with a second presentation on the most common Bell helicopter incident signatures, which are often used to reconstruct the accident’s timeline. We will see that most helicopter accidents can be dissected by preserving and analyzing the evidence located at the scene of the incident. Indeed, each aircraft incident requires the collaboration of multiple different specialists to establish its root causes, and formulate recommendations to prevent future accidents.

Jean-Pierre Régnier, AKA “JP”, has been a Senior Accident Investigator with the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada, located in Ottawa since 2015.

JP retired from the Royal Canadian Air Force as a Lieutenant-Colonel in 2015 after almost 28 years of military service as a pilot and officer which included operational and training deployments as well as postings to the Directorate Air Simulation & Training, Directorate Flight Safety, Directorate Air Strategic Plans and 1 Canadian Air Division.

JP has spent 35 years in the aviation industry and has a Master of Science (MS) in Safety and Accident Investigation from Cranfield University and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from the Royal Military College of Canada.

Benoit Albert is a Principal Flight Safety Officer and Air Safety Investigator at Bell Textron Canada Limited (BTCL) in Mirabel, Quebec.

Benoit has 34 years of experience in Engineering and Quality management in both the aerospace and commercial aviation industries.

Benoit is responsible for all aspects of BTCL’s aviation safety, which includes the Safety Management Systems (SMS), the Aircraft Emergency Plan (AEP) Coordinator, and accident investigations involving a BTCL helicopter (ASI). BTCL was the first recognized design and manufacturing SMS in Canada. Prior to this, Benoit was the Quality Manager at BTCL.

Benoit previously worked at Bombardier Aerospace where he was the Quality Assurance Coordinator and Minister's Delegate (representing Transport Canada) supporting the certification of the CRJ700 and CRJ900 regional jets.

His early career included work as an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (AME) and pilot (fixed-wing, multi-engine, and float-plane). During this period he was also president of Quebec’s annual AME Symposium for five years.

Benoit has a Certificate in Administration from the University du Québec en Outaouais (UQO), and he is also a certified aircraft maintenance specialist from École Nationale d’Aérotechnique (ENA).

Host or Publisher Vertical Flight Society - Montreal/Ottawa Chapter