CHC helicopter service flight 241

Location of the scene of the accident

During the helicopter accident in Turøy on April 29, 2016, a Eurocopter EC 225 with 13 people on board crashed off the island of Skitholmen near Turøy in the municipality of Øygarden west of Bergen in Norway . It is the worst aviation accident in the Norwegian oil industry to date and the worst helicopter accident in Norway since 1978.

the accident

On the right the crash site (island)

The Eurocopter EC 225 LP Super Puma 2 with the aircraft registration LN-OJF was operated by CHC Helicopter . The aircraft took off on April 29, 2016 at around 11:16 a.m. local time under flight number HKS 241 with eleven passengers and two crew members on board from the Gullfaks B drilling platform to Bergen- Fleesland Airport. The helicopter reached an altitude of approximately 3,250 ft (991 m ) and suddenly and rapidly lost altitude and speed north of the island of Sotra. At 11:54 a.m. local time, contact was broken. According to eyewitness reports, there were problems and a fire on the main rotor , which then came off the fuselage of the helicopter. The buoyancy-free machine hit the small rocky island of Skitholmen near Turøy bru , set it on fire and then - with the exception of the gear unit - slipped into the water. The wreck of the helicopter came to rest in the sea about 20 m from the island in 5 to 7 meters of water. The rotor was found on another island. An amateur video shows that the rotor remained in the air by itself for at least 20 seconds after the helicopter had already hit.

background

Eurocopter EC 225 (sample photo)

The unlucky machine LN-OJF was registered in Norway on August 13, 2009 and was delivered directly by the manufacturer. According to the Norwegian Aviation Authority, all the documents relating to the machine were correct. In 2012 and 2013, machines of this type were only permitted for flights to a limited extent due to problems with the main drive. These restrictions were lifted after a conversion in 2014. LN-OJF was out of service twice in 2016 due to repairs: on January 17th, after approx. 1300 flight hours, the gearbox was replaced, on March 27th the rotor head was replaced.

Victim

On board the machine were eleven Norwegians, one British and an Italian. Eleven dead were rescued within a short time, according to the police there was no evidence of survivors. In addition to the two pilots, a 57-year-old Norwegian and a 44-year-old Italian, the victims were employees of various companies who carried out work on the platform of the operator Statoil :

a Statoil employee

an employee of Schlumberger

an employee of Welltec

an employee of Karsten Moholt AS

three Aker Solutions employees

four Halliburton employees including a British citizen

Reactions

The Norwegian Aviation Authority (Luftfartstilsynet) issued a flight ban for all EC 225 registered in Norway within Norwegian airspace after the accident. The British aviation authority also issued a corresponding flight ban. The European Aviation Safety Agency first ordered the aircraft to be checked and on June 2, 2016 issued a provisional flight ban for the helicopter types AS332 L2 and H225 LP.

The Norwegian royal couple and the crown prince couple broke off their trip to Sweden due to the misfortune, where they attended the celebrations for the 70th birthday of Carl XVI. Gustaf wanted to participate. Prime Minister Erna Solberg expressed her condolences to the relatives of the victims on television and traveled to the scene of the accident.

Accident investigation

The preliminary investigation report of the Accident Investigation Board Norway comes to the conclusion that a fatigue fracture of a gear has occurred in one of the bearings of the planetary gear, which led to the complete destruction of the main gear and consequently the detachment of the main rotor. The report holds out the prospect of further investigations into the cause of the gear breakage and the recently discovered planetary gear carrier.

Airbus Helicopters has now published a video that presents the previous findings on the cause of the accident and summarizes the measures taken to ensure that the helicopter can be brought back into operation safely.