Transport Canada Grounds Border Patrol Black Hawk

Transport Canada has grounded one of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s border patrol helicopters, saying it should never have been allowed to cross the border for police use. The civilian modified UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter was allowed into the country for “marketing demonstration tours, special events and training operations” but the national police force allegedly put it to work looking for people illegally crossing the border between Quebec and the U.S. The RCMP has two other Black Hawks patrolling the balance of the 6,000-mile border and the force confirmed to the Toronto Star that the third one, which was added to its leased fleet on June 1, has been taken out of service. It insists the grounding is because of red tape and not for safety issues.

“The third air­craft was groun­ded fol­low­ing con­cerns raised by Trans­port Canada related to reg­u­lat­ory con­sid­er­a­tions, and dis­cus­sions between the RCMP and Trans­port Canada are ongo­ing. There is cur­rently no con­firmed timeline for when the third Black Hawk will return to ser­vice,” the RCMP told The Star. It’s the latest wrinkle in a yearlong saga that began with the federal government trying to appease the U.S. government with a show of force along the border. It leased three Black Hawks but because they didn’t meet Transport Canada certification requirements, they were given exemptions. That led to a vocal protest by the Helicopter Association Canada who argued properly registered aircraft were available for lease from Canadian operators. Transport Canada agreed to stop issuing exemptions while it studied their implications and that appears to be where the grounded RCMP helicopter landed. Meanwhile, the Star says Oregon-based Helicopter Transport Services, which owns the RCMP’s three helicopters, has filed a $50 million lawsuit against the helicopter association.