The gearbox of the Super Puma helicopter which crashed in Norway in April killing 13 people was previously involved in a road accident, a new report has revealed.
Norwegian investigators discovered that the most likely cause of the tragedy was a fatigue fracture in one of the gears, and are investigating whether the road accident in 2015, which took place before it was installed on the helicopter, played a part in the crash.
Aberdeenshire father-of-two Iain Stuart, 41, was among those who died when the aircraft went down near Bergen on April 29 while it was returning from a Norwegian oil field. An interim report released by the Air Accident Investigation Board Norway claimed the design of the gearbox assumed that fatigue would create small amounts of debris, which should have been picked up by onboard sensors.
The investigating team said they believe the damage developed in such a way that no debris was produced, and was therefore not detected by the safety systems of the Super Puma. The board report stated: “An important issue will be to seek to determine the origin of the fatigue fracture and the mechanisms behind its growth.
“The AIBN is aware that the gearbox was involved in a road accident in 2015. The gearbox was inspected, repaired and released for flight by the manufacturer before it was installed in LN-OJF in January 2016.
“Whether there is a link between this event and the initiation and growth of a fatigue fracture is being investigated.”
Mr Stuart, from Laurencekirk, worked for the oil-field services company Haliburton, and was described as a “caring son, brother, uncle and friend to many” in the days following his death.
The report also identified “clear similarities” between the incident in April and the crash off Peterhead in 2009 in which 16 people died after a different model of Super Puma crashed.
Both models of aircraft are manufactured by Airbus Helicopters.
The company said in a statement: “Airbus Helicopters takes note of the AIBN’s preliminary report update and welcomes the significant progress made by the investigation.
“We continue to focus our efforts on providing assistance to the investigation team and the authorities as they work toward the identification of the accident’s root cause.”
For more information on the fatal crash click here.
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