Crash of the Sikorsky S-61N OY-HAI
Air Greenland Sikorsky S-61 · Crash
From Nuuk to Paamiut
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 15 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Sikorsky S-61
- Aircraft type
- Sikorsky S-61
- Category
- Helicopter · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- OY-HAI
- Operator
- Air Greenland
- Onboard fatalities
- 15
- Route
- From NuukTo Paamiut
Approximate · Estimated position: Utoqqarmiut, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
In the crash of the Sikorsky S-61N with the aircraft registration OY-HAI into the sea off western Greenland on 25 October 1973, all 15 occupants were killed. The helicopter crash is, alongside the 1962 Greenlandair accident near Nuuk, one of the two most serious accidents in Greenlandic civil aviation, and it was followed by one of the most elaborate recoveries in aviation history. Never before had an aircraft or vessel been recovered from such a great depth.
Flight history
The helicopter was built for Grønlandsfly in 1969 with the serial number 61469 and had been in service for four years. It bore the nickname Aĸigssiaĸ (in the new orthography Aqissiaq). After an emergency water landing, the helicopter had been repaired in May 1972.
The flight offered by Grønlandsfly was due to depart Nuuk at 8:30 and land in Paamiut after a flight time of 75 minutes. Because of a snowstorm the helicopter could not depart on time and had to postpone the departure by several hours. On board were twelve passengers aged between 18 and 53 from the towns of Nuuk, Paamiut, Nanortalik and Narsaq, as well as three crew members. Among the passengers were the two members of the national council Johan Knudsen and Jørgen Poulsen. The national council member and later prime minister Jonathan Motzfeldt had also booked a flight ticket, but had cancelled it in the morning in order to attend a committee meeting after all, at which he was actually supposed to be represented by Lars-Emil Johansen.
Finally, the helicopter was able to take off from Nuuk at 12:15 in clear weather. A position report was to be given every 20 minutes. Already the first scheduled report at 12:35 failed to arrive. According to the police report, the first report was given at 12:25 and the one at 12:45 failed to arrive. The helicopter had crashed at around 12:28. Attempts were made until 13:45 to reach the helicopter by radio.
A fisherman had seen the helicopter fly over him shortly before the crash, about six kilometres north of the accident site.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Absturz der Sikorsky S-61N OY-HAI” (revision 261614760, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Absturz der Sikorsky S-61N OY-HAI
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 261614760 · 2025-11-17 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q83196185
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- de Wikipedia article "Absturz der Sikorsky S-61N OY-HAI" (page 11086511, revision 261614760), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata coordinates)
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator is an airline according to Wikidata
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.