A combined force of European and Norwegian civil aviation authorities is to carry out a review of North Sea helicopter operations.
The joint review will involve the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the Norwegian CAA and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
It will be advised by a panel of independent experts and will study current operations, previous incidents and accidents and offshore helicopter flying in other countries, to make recommendations aimed at improving the safety of offshore flying.
The move follows a string of helicopter incidents in the North Sea in recent years. Most recently, UK North Sea’s Super Puma fleet was grounded after an AS332 L2 model of the aircraft, carrying 16 offshore workers, crashed close to the Shetland Islands, on Friday, August 23, killing four.
Read more: Super Pumas to return to service - http://oedigital.com/component/k2/item/3837-helicopter-landed-upright-aaib
The UK’s CAA said: “Although there has been considerable effort by regulators, operators and the offshore industry to minimize the risk of North Sea helicopter operations, there have been five accidents in the past four years, two of which tragically resulted in fatalities.”
The review will be led by the CAA’s head of flight operations, Captain Bob Jones. Capt Jones will work closely with Geir Hamre, head of helicopter safety for the Norwegian CAA.
The final review will also be subject to scrutiny by independent specialists.
The review will pay particular attention to:
It will include a comparison study of UK operations with those in Norway. The findings of the review are due to be published in early 2014.
Capt Jones aviation career started with the Royal Air Force where he served as a helicopter pilot for 12 years. This included being a helicopter instructor and a VIP pilot in the Queen’s Flight. He then joined a major UK commercial operator in 1980 and had 15 years operating all over the world both as a pilot, chief pilot, training captain and latterly as a senior manager.
Capt Jones joined the CAA as a flight operations inspector in 1995. In 2007, he was promoted to head of flight operations inspectorate department and, in 2008, was then promoted to head of flight operations. Capt Jones has more than 10,000 hours of flying, has been a helicopter pilot for almost 40 years and has been qualified on 16 types.
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