Two days after his home-built helicopter crashed in a wheat field northeast of Edmonton, a pilot was back at the scene to recover his damaged aircraft on Monday.
“I may fix it up and sell it. I may fix it up and fly it,” Daniel Jacobs told Global News at the scene near Highway 21 and Township Road 534 in Strathcona County. “I’m not really sure yet.”
According to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, Jacobs crashed at about 5 p.m. on Saturday and was found standing beside the downed helicopter with only minor injuries.
Jacobs told Global News despite the lacerations to his head because of the impact, he didn’t break any bones or even have a concussion.
“At least he’s alive, but he has some pretty good gashes on his head… I’m glad he’s alright,” said Jacobs’ brother Larry, who helped him recover the aircraft on Monday.
“I didn’t realize what the extent of the damage was until I got her today.”
READ MORE: Man walks away with minor injuries after helicopter crashes northeast of Edmonton
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A TSB spokesperson said the pilot was practising auto-rotations when the crash happened. An auto-rotation is a manoeuvre that helicopter pilots use to land a helicopter in case of engine trouble, the spokesperson explained.
“That’s a procedure where you throttle down on the engine, as if it had failed, and you do a controlled descent,” Jacobs explained. “And I had done several of those and you just sort of add power and recover and come out of it.
“But the last time I added power, there wasn’t any. So the engine had failed somehow — I have yet to determine how that is.”
WATCH: The pilot of a small helicopter was able to walk away with minor injuries after the aircraft crashed in a field northeast of Edmonton on Saturday.
Jacobs said when he was flying at about only 35 feet, he started to “flare back” but “didn’t have enough room to actually slow right down” before touching down on the ground.
READ MORE: Home-built helicopter crashed near Edmonton while practicing emergency landing manoeuvre: TSB
Jacobs said he has had his pilot’s licence since 2000 but has been passionate about flying since much earlier than that.
“It’s been in my blood since I was a little kid,” he said, adding his father and uncle developed a flight simulator-type machine to be able to allow people to train as helicopter pilots without actually taking to the skies.
Jacobs said he purchased the used helicopter about three years ago and bought parts to upgrade it. He says he’s spent about $50,000 on the aircraft.
“Even though it’s a wreck, there’s a lot of useful things about it,” he said.
The TSB said the helicopter was a RotorWay Exec, one of the more common home-built helicopter kits.
Jacobs said he isn’t afraid to fly again though, even if it may not be in the same helicopter.
“All in all, I was fairly successful with that considering all of the things the way they happened. So my skills obviously paid off and I don’t have a problem with going up again.”
The TSB says it has gathered information and spoken to several people about the crash and has “decided not to pursue further investigation into this matter.”
–With files from Global News’ Caley Ramsay
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