The US aviation authority has issued a safety directive for Leonardo AW189 helicopters, two years after the same measure was enforced in the North Sea.
A new airworthiness directive has been issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requiring the inspection of tail gearbox fittings for cracks on the aircraft.
The FAA said the move was prompted by a similar directive from the European Aviation standards Agency (EASA) made more than two years previously.
The EASA’s notice, issued on September 8, 2016, required repetitive inspections of the fitting and a replacement of the equipment if a crack was found.
The new notice states that after “evaluating all the information from the EASA”, the US authority has “determined the unsafe condition exists and is likely to exist or develop on other helicopters of these same type designs”.
It requires the inspection of the helicopters by October 26.
The FAA estimates the measure will affect four helicopters in the US, with replacement fittings of up to $34,080 per helicopter.
It did not state why the new directive has been issued two years after Europe’s.
The most recent figures from Oil and Gas UK indicate that three AW189s are operational in the UK North Sea.
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