News / Crack found in ditched helicopter gearbox
INVESTIGATORS have found a substantial crack in the main gearbox of the helicopter that ditched off Fair Isle on Monday.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) issued a bulletin on Wednesday saying that the lubrication system for the gear box had ceased to function, causing warning lights to go on after which the pilots carried out a controlled landing near an oil tanker.
All 17 passengers and two crew were picked up from two life rafts by a fast rescue boat from the tanker and flown by helicopter to Kirkwall and Sumburgh.
The oilmen aboard praised the pilots for their handling of the incident.
The AAIB team discovered a 360 degree crack in the bevel gear vertical shaft close to where a weld joins the two halves together, which prevented the oil pump from working.
The Super Puma EC225 had been on its way from Aberdeen to the West Phoenix drilling rig west of Shetland.
This is the second controlled ditching of a Super Puma EC225 this year after 14 men were rescued from a ditching in the North Sea off Aberdeen in May.
Concern is now being expressed about how many similar aircraft may have a similar fault and the European Aviation Safety Agency is urgently reviewing an airworthiness directive for this type of aircraft.
The three North Sea operators CHC, Bond and Bristow have grounded all models of this aircraft while investigators from the AAIB, CHC and manufacturers Eurocopter complete their work.
BBC Scotland reports that BP has restricted two North Sea search and rescue Super Pumas running the Jigsaw service with L2 type aircraft to life saving operations following the incident.
The company has said it is looking into bringing in Sikorsky aircraft to provide temporary cover until the investigation has been completed.
Unions have questioned whether the Super Puma is fit for purpose after a meeting of the Helicopter Safety Steering Group met in Aberdeen on Wednesday, which includes union and industry representatives, where the ditching was not discussed due to protocol.
Offshore organiser with the RMT union, Jake Molloy, said: “The operator CHC and the others are unable to provide any information about the causes of the ditching because they are bound by the protocols of AAIB, which dictate you cannot discuss findings until their investigation has concluded.”
“It’s frustrating and disappointing for workers as it means we are not in a position to discuss the way forward. Many of the workforce will be extremely frustrated as some will be stuck offshore or alternatively stuck onshore, some of them perhaps not being paid.”
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