Norwegian aviation chiefs have decided not to ground the country’s Super Puma fleet – despite a leading offshore union calling for the helicopters to be taken out of service until the cause of the fatal Shetland crash was determined.
Safety officials, offshore industry representatives and union members staged an emergency meeting of the country’s Helicopter Cooperation Forum yesterday in the wake of Friday’s accident.
Energy industry union Safe had called for the country’s Super Puma aircraft to be grounded until after accident investigators in the UK had determined why the CHC-operated L2 crashed lost power off the coast of Shetland.
But the group decided against a grounding, describing it as an ‘isolated incident’.
“All flights will continue as normal,” said Norway CAA’s helicopter chief Geir Helge Hamre.
“This accident we look at as an isolated event. All Super Puma helicopters will be operational in the morning, and go as normal.”
However the union, which has called for greater analysis of helicopter safety in the North Sea, insisted the helicopters should not fly until more was known about what happened on Friday night.
“The UK choose to set two types of Super Puma helicopters on the ground,” said Safe deputy leader Roy Erling Furre.
“We are concerned that we should do the same. We know nothing about the cause of the accident at Shetland.”
EC225s returned to service in Norway this week for the first time since the model was grounded in the wake of last year’s ditchings in the North Sea. Earlier this week union leaders in Norway expressed concern that the EC225 had been shortlisted for the country’s new search and rescue fleet.
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