BOND Helicopters has become the first of the North Sea’s three major helicopter companies to partially resume Super Puma crew change flights following Monday’s ditching of a CHC-operated aircraft.
• Earlier model of Super Pumas not fitted with suspect gearbox components resume flights, but Super Puma EC225s remain grounded
• EC225s banned by Civil Aviation Authority from flying over water following AAIB report blaming faulty gearboxes for helicopter ditchings on Monday and in May
• Potentially unsafe helicopters not returned to service on ‘safety grounds’
A number of the company’s Super Pumas - earlier models which have not been fitted with a suspect gearbox component - took to the skies over Aberdeen heliport this morning. But Bond’s fleet of Super Puma EC225 aircraft - the model at the centre of the ditching investigation - remain grounded.
Serious mechanical failures
The Civil Aviation Authority has banned Super Puma EC225s from flying over water since the publication of special bulletin by the Government’s Air Accident Investigation Branch which found that the ditching of the CHC-operated Super Puma EC225 on Monday was caused by a serious mechanical failure in the gear box of the aircraft. The failure is identical to the fault found in a Bond-operated Super Puma which ditched in the North Sea off Aberdeen in May
In both incidents the main vertical gear shaft had suffered a complete 360 degree crack near a weld that joins two sections of the shaft The flight ban also applies to a number of the earlier versions of the Super Puma fitted with the same suspect gearbox component now linked to both major emergencies,
Saety grounds
A spokesman for Bond said: “A collective decision was made, on safety grounds, not to return to service those helicopters fitted with the bevel gear vertical shaft serial numbers as detailed within a European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) emergency airworthiness directive.
“Subsequent to this decision the Civil Aviation Authority published a safety directive that prevented helicopters fitted with the bevel gear vertical shafts in question from flying over water. AS332L2 helicopters not fitted with the bevel gear vertical shafts, as detailed in the EASA directive, have a long and successful service history, are unaffected, and can be returned to service. “
He added: “Bond Offshore Helicopters will not compromise safety and are working hard to assist its customers in finding creative solutions to help them during this challenging time for the industry.”