1 Introduction
1. On 23 August 2013, a Super Puma helicopter crashed
into the sea while on approach to Sumburgh Airport on Shetland.
Four passengers were killed. That was the fifth accident in four
years involving a helicopter carrying oil and gas industry personnel
to and from offshore installations in the North Sea.
2. Shortly after the Sumburgh crash, the Civil Aviation
Authority (CAA) announced a joint review of North Sea helicopter
operations with the Norwegian CAA and the European Aviation Safety
Agency (EASA). That review was advised by a panel of independent
experts. The review studied current operations, previous accidents
and offshore helicopter flying in other countries, and it made
recommendations to improve the safety of offshore flying.[1]
3. Because we, too, were concerned about offshore
helicopter safety, we launched an inquiry on offshore helicopter
safety, but we agreed not to publish our report before the CAA
had published its findings. We asked for written submissions on
the following questions:
· How
safe are offshore helicopter flights?
· How does the
UK's safety record compare with that of other countries?
· What steps
could be taken by industry to improve the safety of offshore flights?
· How could legislation
and regulations relating to helicopter safety be improved?
· How effective
are existing regulators, including the European Aviation Safety
Agency, in ensuring that recommendations to improve safety are
implemented?
4. Along with written submissions, we heard oral
evidence on 27 January and 17 March. We also met a number of survivors
of the Sumburgh crash at an informal private meeting on 10 April,
where the survivors told us about their experiences during and
after the accident. A summary of this meeting is set out in Appendix
A.
5. The evidence session on 27 January was held in
Aberdeen, which is the geographical centre of the UK oil and gas
industry. In Aberdeen, we visited the North Sea operations centre
of Bond Aviation Group, a helicopter operator, where we met staff
and were briefed on existing safety practices in the offshore
sector. We also visited Airbus Helicopters North Sea Service Centre
where we were given a demonstration aboard a pilot training simulator.[2]
We thank all those who hosted us on our visit as well as those
who provided evidence to the Committee. We also thank our Specialist
Adviser, Jeremy Barnett, for his assistance.
6. In this inquiry, we did not seek to identify the
causes of specific accidents, although we considered information
published by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) on
the 2013 Sumburgh crash. Instead, we scrutinised the safety culture
in the North Sea. To that end, we took evidence on the regulatory
and commercial pressures faced by the offshore industry and listened
carefully to the offshore work force on how safe they feel and
what they believe can be improved. We heard about two broadly
separate issues in relation to helicopter accidents: first, the
reasons why helicopters crash; and, secondly, factors relating
to the survivability of crew and passengers following such incidents.
7. A number of other helicopter accidents took place
over land during the course of this inquiry. Those included the
police helicopter crash into the Clutha Vaults bar in Glasgow,
which killed 10 people, and two accidents in Norfolk, one civilian
and one military, each of which led to four fatalities. We did
not take evidence on the factors surrounding those accidents,
as the onshore operating environment and culture is significantly
different from the offshore sector.
1 The CAA published its findings in Safety review of offshore public transport helicopter operations in support of the exploitation of oil and gas, CAP 1145 Back
2
Formally Eurocopter Group Back
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