A helicopter pilot who earned his wings in the Yukon has died after falling into a crevasse in the Antarctic.

David Wood, 62, had just gotten out of his chopper to retrieve equipment Monday morning (Yukon time) when he fell about 20 metres into the crevasse, the Government of Australia said in a press release early this morning.

A rescue team was flown to the remote ice shelf near Australia’s Davis research station.

The injured pilot was lifted from the crevasse and taken to the station’s medical facility, where he was treated by specialists but died later of his injuries.

Bruno Meili, owner of Whitehorse’s Fireweed Helicopters, knew Wood not just as a pilot who flew for him over the last 16 years, but also as a friend.

“He was a great guy,” Meili said in an interview this morning.

Meili said Wood flew the medium-sized Bell 204C helicopter for Fireweed doing mining exploration work and firefighting mostly.

With more than 30 years’ experience under his belt and 16,000 hours in the pilot’s seat, Wood was accident-free.

“He was a really, really good pilot, probably the best pilot I ever worked with,” Meili said. “He played a wicked piano, he played guitar and he was a really good musician.”

Meili said Wood came north after high school and worked at the silver mines in the Keno district, where he earned enough money to pay for his helicopter training in the late 1970s – when Trans North Helicopters still operated its flight school in Whitehorse.

Wood had a wife and two grown children in Winnipeg, as well as two adult kids living in Australia, where he lived for a number of years, he added.

Meili said he learned of the accident Monday and was notified of Wood’s death by the pilot’s brother shortly after midnight.

“He was not just an employee, he was a good friend too.”

Wood and another pilot in a second helicopter were slinging fuel on long lines into an ice shelf about 45 minutes from the research station, says the press release by Australia’s Antarctic Division.

After dropping off their fuel, the two choppers landed to collect their sling cables when Wood fell into the crevasse.

The other pilot was unable to provide assistance.

He immediately flew back to the research station to pick up three rescue specialists and return to the ice shelf, approximately 167 kilometres to the northeast, according to the release.

The statement said Wood was extracted from the crevasse about three hours after the fall.

He had flown for the Antarctic program for a number of years and was a respected colleague and a friend to many, Dr. Nick Gales, director of the Australian Arctic Division, said in the release.