Safety Culture

How To Destroy Your Organisation’s Safety Culture

Accidents & Incidents, Helicopters, Human Factors / Performance, Mining / Resource Sector, Safety Culture, Safety Management

How To Destroy Your Organisation’s Safety Culture The term ‘safety culture’ was initially used in the report on the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident.  Building a strong, positive safety culture takes deliberate, concerted and continual effort.  Destroying a safety culture is a lot easier… Bad Safety Leadership The following is the text of a real e-mail, spotted pinned to the wall of the […]

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Fatal $16 Million Maintenance Errors

Accidents & Incidents, Helicopters, Human Factors / Performance, Maintenance / Continuing Airworthiness / CAMOs, Regulation, Safety Culture, Safety Management

Fatal $16 Million Maintenance Errors (Sundance Helicopters AS350B2 N37SH) A jury in Las Vegas awarded $16 million to the families of 4 passengers killed in a December 2011 helicopter sightseeing accident, caused by a series of maintenance errors.  The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) made safety recommendations on maintenance human factors and fatigue after this accident. The

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Sundance chartered C212

Catastrophe in the Congo – The Company That Lost its Board of Directors

Accidents & Incidents, Business Aviation, Crises / Emergency Response / SAR, Fixed Wing, Logistics, Mining / Resource Sector, Oil & Gas / IOGP / Energy, Resilience, Safety Culture, Safety Management

Catastrophe in the Congo – The Company That Lost its Board of Directors When you charter aircraft for business purposes, any fatal air accident can leave a terrible scar on your company as well as on the friends and family of the people who die.  In 2010 a small Australian mining company suffered a particularly catastrophic air accident,

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Site of the G-CRST helicopter accident

Fatal Helicopter / Crane Collision – London Jan 2013

Accidents & Incidents, Air Traffic Management / Airspace, Airfields / Heliports / Helidecks, Business Aviation, Helicopters, Human Factors / Performance, Maintenance / Continuing Airworthiness / CAMOs, Regulation, Safety Culture, Safety Management

Fatal Helicopter / Crane Collision – London Jan 2013 While manoeuvring over the River Thames, an AgustaWestland A109E helicopter, G-CRST, operated by charter company Rotormotion, collided at 700ft amsl with a crane in Vauxhall, Central London.  The crane was atop the 50 storey St George Wharf Tower.  The helicopter pilot and a passer-by died.  The UK Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB)

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GM Ignition Switch Debacle – Safety Lessons

Accidents & Incidents, Design & Certification, Human Factors / Performance, News, Safety Culture, Safety Management

GM Ignition Switch Debacle – Safety Lessons General Motors has faced intense criticism, large fines, on-going court cases and big rectification costs after mishandling a dangerous design fault in millions of vehicles.  So are there safety lessons for other organisations? Aerossurance thinks so. Some have commented that this is a case of corporate complacency while others, similar to Edward

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Offshore Helicopter Safety Action Group & OGUK Helicopter Briefing

Accidents & Incidents, Airfields / Heliports / Helidecks, Crises / Emergency Response / SAR, Design & Certification, Helicopters, Human Factors / Performance, HUMS / VHM / UMS / IVHM, Maintenance / Continuing Airworthiness / CAMOs, Offshore, Oil & Gas / IOGP / Energy, Regulation, Safety Culture, Safety Management, Survivability / Ditching

Offshore Helicopter Safety Action Group (OHSAG) The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has published the minutes of the latest, 14 August 2014, meeting of the Offshore Helicopter Safety Action Group (OHSAG).  The OHSAG was formed as a result of the ‘Civil Aviation Authority Safety Review of Offshore Public Transport Helicopter Operations in Support of the Exploitation of Oil

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Wrong Deck Landings

Accidents & Incidents, Airfields / Heliports / Helidecks, Helicopters, Human Factors / Performance, News, Offshore, Oil & Gas / IOGP / Energy, Safety Culture, Safety Management

Wrong Deck Landings Occasionally, offshore helicopters do land on the wrong offshore installation.  On 26 August 2014 the media picked up an such an event that occurred a few days earlier involving a Sikorsky S-92A. So is it a big deal?  Well, yes and no! There are good reasons to avoid landing on a deck that is

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EASA Launch Helicopter Gearbox Lubrication Rule Making

Accidents & Incidents, Design & Certification, Helicopters, Offshore, Oil & Gas / IOGP / Energy, Regulation, Safety Culture, Safety Management

 EASA Launch Helicopter Gearbox Lubrication Rule Making The first meeting was held last week of a new European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Rule Making Team (RMT.0608) on helicopter gearbox lubrication.  The Terms of Reference (ToR) and Group Composition (GC) are here. This activity follows European/US/Canadian dialogue after the loss of Cougar Sikorsky S-92A C-GZCH Flight 491 off Newfoundland,

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Living Near Zero – New Challenges for Air Safety

Accidents & Incidents, Regulation, Resilience, Safety Culture

Living Near Zero – New Challenges for Air Safety Between 17 July 2014 and 24 July 2014 the aviation industry has been rocked by three loses of commercial passenger aircraft and 462 lives: 17 July 2014 Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER 9M-MRD (flight MH17) overflying Ukraine after what appears to have been a surface to air missile attack (see Aviation

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Technology Friend or Foe – Automation in Offshore Helicopter Operations

Accidents & Incidents, Design & Certification, Helicopters, Human Factors / Performance, Offshore, Oil & Gas / IOGP / Energy, Regulation, Safety Culture, Safety Management

Technology Friend or Foe – Automation in Offshore Helicopter Operations In London 3-4 July 2014 the Royal Aeronautical Society held a landmark conference on the introduction of automation to offshore helicopters titled:  Technology: Friend or Foe? This RAeS conference was triggered by: a CFIT accident on approach to Sumburgh airport in August 2013 (AS332L2 G-WNSB), the issue, a few

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House of Commons Transport Committee Offshore Helicopter Safety Report

Accidents & Incidents, Helicopters, Human Factors / Performance, HUMS / VHM / UMS / IVHM, Logistics, News, Offshore, Oil & Gas / IOGP / Energy, Regulation, Safety Culture, Safety Management, Survivability / Ditching

The published at 00.01 am on Tuesday 8 July 2014. In its conclusions the committee say: Helicopter transfer across the North Sea has inherent risks but remains the most practical mode of transport for the offshore oil and gas industry. Five accidents since 2009 have led to a loss of confidence from the offshore work

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‘Freedom to speak up?’ in the NHS: independent review

Accidents & Incidents, Human Factors / Performance, News, Safety Culture, Safety Management

Sir Robert Francis QC is to chair an independent review into creating an open and honest reporting culture in the National Health Service (NHS). It has been announced that the review will: …provide independent advice and recommendations to ensure that: NHS workers can raise concerns in the public interest with confidence that they will not

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Misjudgement during abrupt helicopter maneuvering

Accidents & Incidents, Helicopters, Human Factors / Performance, Safety Culture, Safety Management

Misjudgement during abrupt helicopter manoeuvring (AS350B3 LN-OVO) The Accident Investigation Board Norway (the Statens Havarikommisjon for Transport) has issued its report into an accident that occurred to Airbus Helicopters AS350B3, LN-OVO, operated by Fonnafly AS, on 27 April 2013.  Their report is in Norwegian only. The helicopter was being used to transport personnel participating in the Røldal

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737 Descent Below Instrument Approach Minima – HF Lessons

Accidents & Incidents, Fixed Wing, Human Factors / Performance, Safety Culture

737 Descent below Instrument Approach Minima – HF Lessons Human factors are discussed in the report into an incident in New Zealand. Using the autopilot, the aircraft descended on the glideslope but at decision height (200 feet Above Ground Level) the aircraft was still in cloud and the runway or approach lights were not visible. The

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Unfit for Flight or Unfit for Publication?

Accidents & Incidents, Fixed Wing, Helicopters, Human Factors / Performance, News, Regulation, Safety Culture, Safety Management, Survivability / Ditching

Unfit for Flight or Unfit for Publication? This week US newspaper USA Today has featured a 3 part ‘exposé’ on general aviation and its safety record by Tom Frank that claimed ‘Lies and coverups mask roots of small-aircraft crashes’: Unfit for Flight: Hidden defects linked to small-aircraft crashes over five decades Unchecked carnage: NTSB probes don’t

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