A Super Puma helicopter has been brought back to Aberdeen on a ship following a safety alert offshore.
CHC Helicopters said last night that a fuel problem on the aircraft led to the grounding on Saturday.
The incident happened in the Rowan Gorilla V installation.
The helicopter arrived back at Aberdeen harbour yesterday and was loaded on to a lorry and driven to Dyce for safety checks.
A spokesman for CHC said: “Following refuelling on board a North Sea platform, an AS332L2 aircraft operated by CHC has been returned to Aberdeen by barge as a precautionary measure.
“Routine fuel samples were found to be unsatisfactory and the decision to bring the aircraft back by sea was made. There was no risk to crew or passengers at any time. The aircraft will be subjected to rigorous engineering checks before being returned to service.”
He added: “Safety is CHC’s first priority and we continue to work diligently with helicopter manufacturers, other operators and aviation regulators to ensure the highest possible safety standards for our fleets.”
The alert happened just weeks after two crew and 12 passengers had to be rescued when their helicopter ditched 25 miles off Aberdeen. It was the third serious incident involving a Bond Super Puma in the North Sea in the last three years.
Results from an initial Air Accident Investigation Branch examination of the Super Puma G-REDW showed that its gearbox shaft had cracked.
Bond Offshore later halted all flights by aircraft on its EC225 fleet while and investigation was carried out. But operations resumed last week, following a “rigorous” inspection of the model and the release of important data by manufacturer Eurocopter.
The CHC copter is a Super Puma AS332L2, the same type which was involved in a crash which killed all 16 people on board in 2009. Bond flight 85N was en route fromBP’s Miller platform when it plunged into the sea within sight of the Buchan coast.
Aviation writer Jim Ferguson said last night that he was “extremely concerned” that it had taken several days for details of the CHC alert to be made public.
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