Culpable Culture of Compliance?
An ATSB report on a fatal man overboard incident questions if blindly valuing compliance may create a culture that actually undermines safety.
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CAP1145 Helicopter Water Impact Survivability Statistics – A Critique
CAP1145 Helicopter Water Impact Survivability Statistics – A Critique Eurocopter AS332L2 G-WNSB impacted the sea 1.5 nm west of Sumburgh Airport, Shetland Islands on 23 August 2013 (see the last AAIB Special Bulletin) with the loss of 4 lives. https://youtu.be/C_3xlunGUk0 Within weeks the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) ordered a hurried safety review. This resulted in the CAP1145 report (‘Safety review of offshore public transport
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Our Top 20 Articles of 2015
Aerossurance: Our Top 20 Articles of 2015 As we start the new year we look back on the 20 articles that proved most popular with our readers in 2015. In reverse order: Number 20: Building St Helena Airport – An Industrial Scale ‘Grand Design’ This started with the building of the first airport on the volcanic
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UK BOSIET/FOET Cat-A CA-EBS HUET Update
UK BOSIET/FOET Cat-A CA-EBS HUET Update Category A Compressed Air Emergency Breathing Systems (CA-EBS) were introduced for helicopter passengers flying offshore over the UK Continental Shelf in September 2014. This followed the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) North Sea Review, which resulted in the CAP1145 report. Oil and Gas UK, Step Change in Safety, OPITO, the International Association of Drilling Contractors
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Canadian Coast Guard Helicopter Accident: CFIT, Survivability and More
Fatal Arctic Bo105 CFIT gives lessons on low level ops, compliance with mx data, cold water survivability, alerting, data recorders and regulatory oversight.
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UK OHSAG Oct 2015 Minutes
UK Offshore Helicopter Safety Action Group (OHSAG) October 2015 Minutes The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has just published the minutes of the 16 October 2015 meeting of the Offshore Helicopter Safety Action Group (OHSAG). This is the third and last of the year (compared to six in 2014), postponed from July 2015. The OHSAG was formed as a result of the ‘Civil
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So You Think The GOM is Non-Hostile?
So You Think The Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is Non-Hostile? The Gulf of Mexico (GOM), off the coast of Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas in particular, remains a busy area for offshore helicopter operations with over 2 million passengers carried and nearly 300,000 flying hours last year (see our article: Helicopter Ops and Safety – Gulf Of
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Bell 407 Power Loss GOM Ditching: NTSB
Bell 407 Power Loss GOM Ditching: NTSB (RLC B407 N373RL) The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has reported on the ditching of a Bell 407 offshore helicopter in the Gulf Of Mexico (GOM) on 11 November 2014. The aircraft, N373RL operated by Rotorcraft Leasing Company (RLC), ditched following a partial power loss shortly after take off from an installation
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Norwegian Survival Suits: Suited for Safety
Norwegian Survival Suits: Suited for Safety The Norwegian Petroleum Safety Agency (PSA), has published a piece on the history of survival suits in Norway in their latest Dialogue magazine. Amusingly their first illustration highlights a hazard unique to early survival suits that we discussed after the 2014 Oil & Gas UK annual aviation seminar, namely cigarette
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Gulfstream G-IV Take Off Accident & Human Factors
Fatal G-IV runway excursion: take off with gust lock engaged. Contributing: habitual noncompliance and inadequate certification.
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Fuel System Maintenance Error: Tuniter ATR72 TS-LBB Ditching 6 August 2005
Fuel System Maintenance Error: Tuniter ATR72 TS-LBB Ditching 6 August 2005 On the 6 August 2005 a Tuninter ATR72 turboprop aircraft, TS-LBB, flying from Bari, Italy to Tunis, Tunisia, ran out of fuel and ditched off the northern coast of Sicily. Of the 39 people on board, 16 died. The aircraft had been erroneously fitted during maintenance with
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Crashworthiness and a Fiery Frisco US HEMS Accident
Crashworthiness and a Fiery Frisco US HEMS Accident (Airbus Helicopters AS350B3e, N390LG of Air Methods) Shortly after take-off from a hospital in Frisco, Colorado, on 2 July 2015, Airbus Helicopters AS350B3e helicopter, N390LG, operated by Air Methods as ‘Flight for Life’, crashed in a parking lot 120m away. This was a daytime, Visual Meteorological Condition (VMC), Part 135
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UK CAA Helideck Developments
UK CAA Helideck Developments The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) are considering changing how offshore helidecks are approved and assessing the fire-fighting provision on Normally Unattended Installations (NUIs). The former activity is subject to a public consultation and that latter is being examined by a Offshore Helicopter Safety Action Group (OHSAG) working group. Helideck Qualified
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Metro III Low-energy Rejected Landing and CFIT
Metro III Low-energy Rejected Landing and CFIT The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has issued a report on a fatal accident to Fairchild SA227-AC Metro III, C-GFWX, operated by Perimeter Aviation at Sanikiluaq, Nunavut, on the coast of Hudson Bay on 22 December 2012. The route from Winnipeg is normally operated by sister company Keewatin Air, but
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Helicopter Ops and Safety – Gulf Of Mexico 2014
Helicopter Ops and Safety – Gulf of Mexico 2014 The Helicopter Safety Advisory Conference (HSAC) has been publishing data on the Gulf of Mexico (‘GOM’) offshore helicopter fleet and its safety since 1995. Helicopter Operations: GOM Fleet Data They report that flying activity has remained “relatively constant” for the last several years, with just under 300k flying
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UK OHSAG April 2015 Minutes
UK Offshore Helicopter Safety Action Group (OHSAG) April 2015 Minutes The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has just published the minutes of the 28 April 2015 meeting of the Offshore Helicopter Safety Action Group (OHSAG), the second of the year. The OHSAG was formed as a result of the ‘Civil Aviation Authority Safety Review of Offshore Public Transport Helicopter Operations in
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Antarctic Helicopter Accidents
Antarctic Helicopter Accidents The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has just issued a report into an accident involving an Airbus Helicopters AS350B2 VH-HRQ of Helicopter Resources, supporting polar exploration in Antarctica on 1 December 2013. We look at that and also Antarctic accidents involving 1 French and 3 German helicopters. Australian Accident – History of the Flight The helicopter was
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Helideck, Helicopter and Other Specialist Training Facilities
Helideck, Helicopter and Other Specialist Training Facilities Safety training specialists Falck Nutec (now RelyOn Nutec) have installed an ex-Royal Navy AgustaWestland Lynx HAS3 at their Aberdeen training facility on their helideck training mock-up. This aids the training of Helideck Landing Officers (HLOs) and Helideck Assistants (HDAs) on their OPITIO approved training courses. This replaced a rather more
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Loss of the Alexander Kielland
Loss of the Alexander Kielland The Norwegian semi-submersible floatel (floating hotel) Alexander L. Kielland capsized on 27 March 1980 when alongside Phillips Ekofisk Edda platform. The Kielland had lost one of its five legs in a severe, but not extreme, gale. At 18:30, a ‘sharp crack’ was heard followed by ‘some kind of trembling’. The floatel heeled over 30° but stabilised,
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North Sea Helicopter Safety – Step Change in Safety Event
North Sea Helicopter Safety – Step Change in Safety Event The offshore industry safety initiative, Step Change in Safety, held a workforce engagement seminar on Helicopter Safety in Aberdeen in early March. The presentations are all available to download (click on the presenter’s name below): HSSG Update – Mark Abbey This presentation on behalf of
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UK OHSAG Jan 2015 Minutes
UK Offshore Helicopter Safety Action Group (OHSAG) Jan 2015 Minutes The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has just published the minutes of the latest, 27 Jan 2015, 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
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Radar for Wave Height Measurement
Radar for Wave Height Measurement The EnRoute Wave Height Measurement Problem In 2011 Canadian Transportation Safety Board (TSB) issued their investigation into a S-92A accident offshore Canada in 2009, in which 17 people died and one passenger, Robert Decker, survived. Additionally this accident was subject to a public inquiry. The Hon Robert Wells QC’s Offshore Helicopter Safety Inquiry (OSHSI)
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Sea State Forecasting – CHIRP
Sea State Forecasting – CHIRP The CHIRP Charitable Trust, who run the UK’s Confidential Human Factors Incident Reporting Programme, today published Air Transport FEEDBACK Issue 113. This included discussion of a report on sea state forecasting in the North Sea. The original report submitted to CHIRP was: Post CAP 1145 [Safety Review Of Offshore Public Transport
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Cessna 208B Caravan Ditching Video, Molokai, Hawaii, 2013
Cessna 208B Caravan Ditching Video, Molokai, Hawaii, 2013 We have previously covered the graphic ditching of Sikorsky S-76C 9M-STE (MSN 760398) of MHS Aviation in the South China Sea on 12 December 2013, and a passenger video of the ditching and rescue. Coincidentally, the day before (but in practice a couple of hours later due to the time difference), another ditching occurred, this
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UK CAA CAP1145: Update on North Sea Helicopter Safety (CAP1243)
UK CAA CAP1145: Update on North Sea Helicopter Safety (CAP1243) Not long after the fatal loss of Eurocopter AS332L2 G-WNSB 1.5 nm west of Sumburgh Airport, Shetland Islands on 23 August 2013 with 4 fatalities (AAIB Special Bulletin), the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) launched an rapid review on offshore helicopter safety. CAP1145 This CAA Review resulted in the CAP1145 report
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