UPDATE: The European Safety Agency (EASA) has temporarily grounded all H225 Super Puma flights following a report from the Accident Investigation Board Norway (AIBN) into the 29 April fatal helicopter crash near Bergen.
Norway's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) followed by the UK's (CAA) have decided to suspend all use of H225 helicopters, based on the latest report from the AIBN.
The helicopter type had already been suspended from regular traffic, following the death of 13 people when the H225 carrying them from the Gullfaks B platform crashed onshore near Bergen on 29 April. The ban will now be extended to search and research (SAR) aircraft.
The move follows a fresh report on the accident from the AIBN, which includes a recommendation to the EASA that it takes "immediate action" to ensure the safety of H225 aircraft because it believes the potential cause of the accident is not something currently detectable in operating machines.
The main cause of the crash was the sudden detachment of the main rotor head and mast. The AIBN's latest report highlights fatigue issues in a second stage planet gear in the epicyclic module of the main gear box, thought to originate from the outer race of the bearing (inside the gear) and propagating towards the web of the gear teeth.
The investigation is ongoing, but the AIBN said: "The nature of the catastrophic failure of the LN-OJF main rotor system indicates that the current means to detect a failure in advance are not effective. The AIBN therefore recommends that EASA take immediate action to ensure the safety of the Airbus Helicopters H225 main gear box."
According to Airbus, about 70% of the worldwide Super Puma fleet is operated for personnel transport in support of the offshore oil and gas industry, including the Gulf of Mexico, North Sea, Africa, Asia and South America.
Airbus said on 27 May, according to its own analysis, "seven potential initial events have been retained to explain the main rotor detachment. Out of these, only one - the failure of the attachment of a suspension bar - can be assessed as probable, based on the available information to date."
On 31 May, it issued a clarification saying it didn't rule out scenarios outlined by the AIBN, but said: "Although significant progress had been made in analyzing information regarding the suspension bar attachments, more work needs to be done on scenarios involving the epicyclix module and the main gear box conical housing."
Statoil uses H225 in its SAR emergency service from the Oseberg field centre, Statfjord B and at Sola.
In a statement this morning, the firm, which is a responsible party for emergency preparedness, in compliance with applicable regulations, said it would be mobilizing the necessary resources to safeguard the emergency preparedness.
CHC Helicopters, which operated the H225 which crashed near Bergen, said the ban excluded non-passenger flights to reocver aircraft to a suitable maintenance location.
"CHC has suspended all H225 operations until further feedback is received from EASA. We will continue to review our position on a regular basis based on further factual updates from the investigation process as well as direction received from the regulatory authorities," said the company.
Preliminary crash findings released last month by the AIBN said the 29 April crash was sudden, catastrophic and developed in just seconds and that there was no indication the flight crew had done anything to cause the accident.
The Airbus H225 Super Puma involved in the crash was operated by CHC Helicopters, which filed for relief under Chapter 11 bankruptcy rules in the US early May.
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Initial crash findings released Helicopter crash kills 13, Norway
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