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Four killed in Quebec helicopter crash; cause remains unknown

All four occupants died in a field near Sainte-Brigide-d’Iberville. Investigators have yet to establish what went wrong or when the aircraft caught fire.

Aired September 27, 2026 at 4:51 AM UTCWritten September 27, 2026 at 4:58 AM UTC3 min read49 sources

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Update 1Sep 27 04:51 UTCFour killed in Quebec helicopter crash; cause remains unknownYou are here

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By the time responders reached the field, the helicopter was burning. All four people aboard were pronounced dead there. The aircraft had come down near Rang des Écossais in Sainte-Brigide-d’Iberville, Quebec, on Saturday, September 26. Finding it on fire, however, does not establish whether the flames began in flight or after impact. Investigators have not determined what caused the crash. ²³

The field is in Quebec’s Montérégie region, roughly 50 kilometres southeast of Montreal, according to subsequent reports. That identified municipality matters: an initial CBC broadcast described the crash as near “St. Peter” and put it about 55 kilometres south of Montreal. Sainte-Brigide-d’Iberville is the municipality named in the later reporting; neither distance is a surveyed measurement of the crash site. ¹²⁷

Even the familiar shorthand of an afternoon crash leaves an important distinction unresolved. The Associated Press placed the crash around 2:30 p.m. local time. The Canadian Press placed the call to police around 2:30 p.m., while the BBC said emergency services were called shortly after that. Those accounts place the emergency response in the same part of the afternoon, but a call time cannot tell us precisely when the helicopter hit the ground. ⁶⁷³

What investigators can—and cannot—say

A Sûreté du Québec spokesperson said the helicopter had reportedly encountered difficulties before it came down. The available accounts do not describe those difficulties. An early suggestion, carried in the CBC broadcast, was that the aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff; police said that timing still needed confirmation. No departure point or takeoff time has been established in the checked reporting. Without those details, “shortly after takeoff” remains a possibility, not a sequence of events investigators have verified. ⁶¹

Quebec provincial police brought in major-crimes investigators. That is a step in an investigation into four deaths, not evidence that anyone committed a crime. The accounts checked do not establish a cause, whether the fire preceded impact, or whether the reported in-flight difficulties were connected to either. A wreck burning in a field is a scene to investigate, not an explanation for how the aircraft got there. ²⁸

There is also a discrepancy in descriptions of the police response. CBC reported that Quebec provincial police’s major-crimes unit was investigating. A CP24 video published September 27 described Montreal police as investigating the deadly crash. The checked material does not reconcile those descriptions or establish which agency leads every part of the inquiry; it does establish the provincial police’s involvement. ²⁵

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada was initially expected at the site, according to the CBC broadcast. Subsequent material checked for this account does not confirm that its investigators arrived, opened an occurrence file for this crash or reached a finding. Nor does it establish the helicopter’s type, registration or operator. A notice about a separate helicopter crash near Havre-Saint-Pierre in January is not an update on this one. ¹²¹³

Known

Four occupants died in the crash near Sainte-Brigide-d’Iberville. 2 3

Unknown

The cause, the fire’s timing and the precise impact time have not been established.

Confirmation of the aircraft’s identity and findings from the accident investigation.

Four deaths, few confirmed identities

The four victims had not been officially identified in the checked police and national reports. L’Express, citing TVA Nouvelles and La Presse, tentatively identified the pilot as 50-year-old Suzanne Jutras. That is a reported identification, not one confirmed by police in the available material. The other three occupants have not been named. It would be easy to fill those gaps with speculation about who was flying and why; the reports do not provide the evidence to do so. ⁴⁷

For the families, the death toll is not provisional: four people were pronounced dead at the scene. What remains provisional is almost everything that might explain their final minutes. Police have an account of unspecified difficulties, an unconfirmed suggestion about takeoff and an aircraft found burning after it came down. Each detail may prove important, but none yet answers the central question of what brought the helicopter down. ²⁶¹

As aired 7 lines

Four people died when a helicopter crashed into a Quebec field. All four occupants were pronounced dead at the scene. Responders found the aircraft burning, but it is not known when the fire began. What brought the helicopter down, and did it catch fire before or after impact?
The crash happened on Saturday, September twenty-sixth, near Rang des Écossais in Sainte-Brigide-d’Iberville, in Quebec’s Montérégie region. That is the identified municipality, correcting an early description of the site as near “St. Peter.” Later accounts put it roughly fifty kilometres southeast of Montreal; an initial account said about fifty-five kilometres south. Those are differing approximations, not measured distances to a pinpointed impact site.
The exact time of impact is also unclear. One account placed the crash around two-thirty in the afternoon, local time. Another placed the call to police around two-thirty, while a third said emergency services were called shortly afterward. A call time cannot establish the moment the helicopter hit the ground.
The helicopter reportedly encountered difficulties before it came down, but the nature of those difficulties has not been established. An early suggestion that it crashed shortly after takeoff remains unconfirmed. Neither its departure point nor the time it took off has been established. And finding the aircraft on fire does not tell investigators whether it was burning in flight.
Quebec provincial police brought in their major-crimes investigators. Their involvement is an investigative step, not evidence that a crime occurred. A separate account described Montreal police as investigating; the checked information does not resolve that discrepancy or establish which agency leads the investigation.
Transportation Safety Board investigators were initially expected at the site. The subsequent information checked does not confirm that they arrived, opened a file for this crash or reached a finding. The helicopter’s type, registration and operator have not been established either.
The four victims had not been officially identified in the checked police and national accounts. A tentative identification names the pilot as fifty-year-old Suzanne Jutras, but police have not confirmed it in the available material. The other three occupants have not been named. For their families, the deaths are certain; what went wrong in flight, whether the fire preceded impact and whether the helicopter had just taken off remain unanswered.