A safety group representing workers, regulators and operators has recommended Super Puma helicopters resume operations in the North Sea.
Step Change in Safety has also said it will request industry body Oil & Gas UK set up an independent review of helicopter transportation in the UK North Sea.
The area’s Super Puma fleet was grounded after a AS332 L2 model of the aircraft, carrying 16 offshore workers, crashed in the North Sea, close to the Shetland Islands, on Friday, August 23, killing four.
Industry safety group, Step Change in Safety’s Helicopter Safety Steering Group (HSSG), recommended yesterday that all three models of the Super Puma—AS332 L/L1, AS332 L2 and EC225—could resume passenger flights to and from offshore oil and gas installations within the UK.
It said: “The decision is based on confidence in the helicopters being expressed by European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the pilots’ union BALPA, the Norwegian CAA and the helicopter operators themselves, following five days of reviewing safety management systems and processes.”
The group said there are almost 16,000 people currently working offshore, with more than 12,000 of those in the areas most affected by the grounding of the fleet—central and northern North Sea.
As of yesterday, there were more than 250 people who had spent more than 21 days offshore, a figure that was increasing daily, said Step Change in Safety team leader, Les Linklater.
He said: “We have had the opportunity to review key elements of our fleet and better understand the positions of the authorities that determine the airworthiness and operational compliance and safety of our helicopter fleet. The result is that there is no evidence to support a continuation of the temporary suspension of the entire Super Puma fleet.
“As a consequence, the HSSG supports the return to active service of all variants of the Super Puma fleet.”
A sympathetic approach will be taken to any worker who, during this period, feels unable to fly, said Mr Linklater.
The AAIB yesterday said evidence currently available suggested that the helicopter was intact and upright when it entered the water.
The Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) said: “Preliminary information indicates that the approach proceeded normally until approximately three miles from the runway when there was a reduction in airspeed accompanied by an increased rate of descent.
"The helicopter struck the sea approximately two miles west of the Runway 09 threshold. The evidence currently available suggests that the helicopter was intact and upright when it entered the water.
"It then rapidly inverted and drifted northwards towards Garths Ness. The helicopter was largely broken up by repeated contact with the rocky shoreline.”
The aircraft’s “black box” was finally recovered yesterday. Investigations continue.
Step Change in Safety said ongoing work will include:
Some UK offshore workers have called for the entire Super Puma fleet to be retired. The EC225 variant had only returned to service just over a month before Friday’s crash, due to the two controlled ditchings in 2012, which had followed a fatal ditching in 2009.
Consideration has been given to transporting workers to platforms by ship.
Bob Crow, general secretary of offshore union RMT, said earlier this week: "The entire Super Puma fleet must remain grounded until the causes of this latest event are established and dealt with thoroughly to the union’s satisfaction and we will support any member who refuses to board any suspect aircraft type in light of this disaster.”
Subscribe
