UPDATE: Oct. 2
The debris found by a B.C. hiker is believed to be from a helicopter crash dating back nearly three decades.
ORIGINAL: Oct. 1
A man was hiking in the backcountry near Revelstoke in September when he made a discovery.
Charlie Osborne was hiking Ghost Peak on Sept. 23 around 2 p.m. when he noticed an object on the ground.
“I thought it was interesting and wondered what happened,” Osborne told Glacier Media. “I didn’t see any other debris around, which I also thought was interesting.”
The object he found appears to be part of an aircraft and possibly a rotor blade from a helicopter. He found another similar piece, not far from the other one.
At first, he thought it might be from a small plane.
"I assumed it was from a plane, I remembered hearing a story a few years ago about a plane crash somewhere in that area,” Osborne said.
Glacier Media contacted the Transportation Safety Board about the aircraft pieces, but had not received a response before this story was posted.
Revelstoke Airport manager Mark Gallicano reached out to a local helicopter company at the airport.
"They know of the rotor blade up by Ghost Peak they said it has been there awhile,” says Gallicano.
Back in January, a helicopter pilot died during a crash near Revelstoke.
Rob Blair was identified as the pilot who was flying from Alberta to Sicamous.
He hit bad weather near Glacier National Park, according to a Transportation Safety Board investigation, which determined the helicopter collided with terrain 11 nautical miles east-northeast of Revelstoke Airport.
The aircraft was destroyed.
Ghost Peak, where Osborne was hiking, is southeast of Revelstoke by roughly 13 kilometres.
This story will be updated once more information becomes available.
