Oil platform helicopter crashes in Norway; 13 dead-Final Report

A Super Puma helicopter returning from an oil platform belonging to Statoil ASA has crashed near Bergen Norway. The helicopter had 13 people on board, eleven have been confirmed dead and two are missing, but from reports and evidence there is very little chance of survivors being found.

As the aircraft approached the shore, the main rotor apparently separated and it fell 2100 feet in 10 seconds, hitting a rock near shore and exploding. It's the first accident for Norway since 1997.

www.bloomberg.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58

This is awful. The Main Rotord detatched? I can't imagine a maintenance scenario in which this comes back at mechanics. Zaphod do you know of such a case before?

Would this be grounds to ground the Eurorocopter 225 elsewhere? Aberdeen Airport Scotland has a decent sized fleet of them as well as many companies in the area headed towards Norway.

Main rotors just don't come off.



Yes I did read the article.. seems there was 1 person that survived the fall, but was succumbed by the waves into the rocks. Just horrifying and sad.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I can't even begin to imagine those men's terror in their last few seconds. Their poor families....

link with video

My thoughts go out to their familys, my friend went the same way a few years back. R. I. P.a reply to: Zaphod58

a reply to: Zaphod58

This is very tragic-my hubby used to be a contract worker years ago-not on oil rigs but all over Africa building breweries,chemical plants etc..i can just imagine the heartache of the parents,wives,children,siblings and other relatives and loved ones..bitterly sad,this.

a reply to: Bigburgh

It's possible that it was a sudden failure, or something that developed between checks, but the rotor is usually pretty bulletproof. It's far too soon to say if they should be looking at the others though. There will be a better picture in a few days after they look at the rotor and connection area.

In intrptr's link it says maintenance for that aircraft was delayed twice last year..

I guess safety is not that important these days..

RIP fellas.

a reply to: Tucket

It depends on the type of check that was deferred. If it was something like a 50 hour check, even if they had performed it, they may not have found anything wrong. If it was a heavy check, they still may not have, but there would be a much better chance of finding something, if there was anything to find.

The UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch is sending a team to Norway because it has investigated a number of crashes involving helicopters operating to and from offshore oil and gas fields in recent years.

In 2012, EC225 Super Puma helicopters crashed in two incidents in Scotland, one off Aberdeen and another off Shetland. Both crashes were blamed on gearbox problems.
In both cases, all passengers and crew were rescued, though in 2013 a Eurocopter AS332 also crashed in Shetland with the loss of four lives. EC225s in the UK were grounded following the crashes but given the go-ahead to resume flying in 2013.

www.bbc.co.uk...

There seems to have been a lot of helicopter failures in the last few years. Do you think it's the type of helicopter that is at fault?

originally posted by: Bigburgh
a reply to: Zaphod58


Main rotors just don't come off.

The Super Puma has a history of catastrophic gearbox failures where the main rotor seperates from the helicopter. Laste happend to a Bond Super Puma back in 2009, they grounded the whole fleet back then.

This is the rotor from todays crash:

Main gear box mount failure. Rotor head looks intact.

originally posted by: JIMC5499
Main gear box mount failure.

More like main input shaft failure. The gearbox will suddenly lock up, and the rotor break off.

a reply to: beansidhe

Bell is developing a new medium class helicopter for oil platform work that will hopefully replace the Puma doing this job. They've had far too many accidents with them.

a reply to: Zaphod58

They definitely have; it must be terrifying flying to the rigs these days in those helicopters. Good news that there's a new one on the horizon.

The search for the two missing was called off after five hours, with searchers determining they couldn't have survived the crash. The Super Puma has since been grounded worldwide from all commercial flights. The flight was operated for Statoil, by CHC Helicopter Service, but the passengers were from several different companies.

a reply to: beansidhe

It's a beautiful aircraft, and uses many state of the art technologies.

Bell 525 Relentless

a reply to: Ivar_Karlsen

If that had happened the blade hubs would be bent from torque. The hubs in the picture are straight.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Turns out there was a Scottish guy on board who lost his life, alongside 11 Norwegians and an Italian man. Poor souls, what an awful way to die.
Is that a different company making the Bell helicopter? I wouldn't trust a SuperPuma as far as I could throw it now.
That Bell one is quite beautiful though, not something you can always say about a helicopter. Thanks for the link.

First off, peace to the victims, condolences to the families.

Another reason to move away from fossil fuels (sarcasm).