With only a week passed since the first anniversary of the tragedy of Flight 85N, I felt it was timely to use this column to reflect on helicopter safety and look at the work of the Helicopter Task Group over the last 12 months.
I have often been asked: “So are helicopter operations safer now than they were 12 months ago?” When I reflect on the huge amount of work that has gone into helicopter safety in the last 12 months, my answer to this question can only be “yes”.
This, of course, doesn’t mean that there are no risks involved in helicopter travel – as there are risks with any form of transport – but through the relentless work of the Helicopter Task Group (HTG), which was set up following the accident of Flight 85N on April 1, 2009, real progress has been made.
Represented on the task group are companies directly involved in the fatal accident; helicopter operating companies; the Health and Safety Executive; the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA); the Maritime Coastguard Agency; Grampian Police; the trade unions, and elected safety representatives from the offshore workforce.
Its purpose is to act on behalf of the industry as a focal point for sharing information, advice and learning across the industry and with other stakeholders.
Over the last year, the HTG has focused on lessons learned from Flight 85N and previous helicopter accidents, accident prevention, rescue and emergency response, and communication and procedural issues. Work was already under way in many of those areas, but we were able to speed things up in some instances and gain industry support for change in others.
Our first action was to look at the initial recommendations made by the accident investigators, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch. These required a series of modifications to be made to the Super Puma epicyclic gearbox, and they were carried out immediately by the helicopter operators.
The HTG followed up with other aircraft manufacturers (Sikorsky and Agusta Westland) to ensure that the lessons learned by Eurocopter were applied across other aircraft types used in the offshore industry. Additionally, we had lessons to learn in terms of emergency response arrangements. It was important that we looked at how emergency response was managed following the accident of Flight 85N.
We put a document together summarising the lessons learned from all the organisations involved in responding to and dealing with the accident. We also examined the reliability of the Vantage POB system, which records details of each passenger on each offshore flight, and the time it took to release next-of-kin information.
We are looking to make improvements to the system, including the freezing of flights 15 minutes before take-off and the adoption of Vantage-card swiping offshore. This should increase the accuracy of information about the passengers on board a flight.
In addition, Grampian Police has developed better guidance for releasing information on those involved in an accident, with the aim of speeding up the process.
We also felt it was important that we looked at other helicopter accidents to see what lessons we could learn.
For example, the suitability of survival suits was an issue raised in the investigation into the fatal S92 helicopter accident in Newfoundland in early-2009. Tests carried out showed that the suits used in the UK were the most effective and suitable for the environment here. All UK offshore companies have now agreed to mandate passenger use of offshore survival suits, closing a loophole that seemed to exist before.
It is vital that all personnel travelling offshore carry the very best of safety equipment. Personal locator beacons (PLBs) were withdrawn following the incident with Flight 88J in February 2009, where it was found that they interfered with beacons on the helicopter life rafts.
The HTG has worked hard to reintroduce PLBs. This process has been complex, but the industry now has two types of PLB that are more robust and less likely to be inadvertently activated in flight, are fully approved by the CAA and won’t interfere with aircraft or life-raft beacons.
Another key aspect of our work had to be to prevent accidents. We focused on getting new technology introduced to UK offshore helicopter operations. Particularly noteworthy are the advanced system to detect failures, the improved helideck lighting and the new flight-following system.
The Health and Usage Monitoring System (HUMS) is key to the prevention of catastrophic failures. The system monitors helicopter engine and gearbox performance and is effective in the early detection of problems.
Research started in 2003 has identified a means to further enhance the analysis of existing HUMS data, with the potential to significantly increase the ability to detect potentially catastrophic failures in advance.
Commercial proposals are currently being developed covering the introduction of advanced HUMS data analysis by the helicopter manufacturers. The HTG will continue to drive for this technology to be adopted as quickly as possible.
A project to extend air-traffic-control coverage into the Central and Northern North Sea using a radar-like technique known as multilateration is nearing completion.
This equipment (a world first for offshore helicopter operations) means that helicopters can be tracked all the way to their destination platform. The system, which can also help to reduce the chances of near-miss accidents and assist search-and-rescue operations, will be fully operational this summer.
Inadequate lighting on offshore helidecks has been a factor in previous accidents. Improved lighting systems to enhance the circle and the “H” in the centre of the helideck have been undergoing flight trials over the winter months. The results of the trials will be available by the middle of this year.
Finally, the HTG has been putting a lot of effort into communicating more regularly with the workforce. We have developed new guidelines for the communication of flight safety concerns that give a clear process that the workforce can follow.
The HTG, in co-operation with the helicopter operators, has also developed a helicopter awareness course for safety representatives.
The course provides an overview of helicopter operations, including maintenance, training, regulation and operations. This is complemented by the “Commuting by Air” DVD, which uses real pilots, engineers and the CAA to address commonly asked questions about helicopter operations and safety.
All in all, our joint efforts over the last 12 months have led to real safety benefits for UK offshore helicopter operations. However, the recent anniversary of Flight 85N serves as a reminder that we can never be complacent and that we need to strive for continuous improvement in helicopter safety.
Besides his daytime job as CEO of PSN, Bob Keiller is also chair of the Helicopter Task Group at Oil & Gas UK
Recommended for you
