Following the UK Air Accident Investigations Branch (AAIB)
initial report on April 9th Eurocopter issued an Alert Service Bulletin
(ASB) that day to all its Super Puma AS332 L2 operators in accordance
with the initial report.
Eurocopter has noted the AAIB’s further report together with its
Safety Recommendation 2009-051 issued on Friday the 17th April as well
as the Airworthiness Directive published the same day at 10 pm by EASA
(European Aviation Safety Agency).
In response, Eurocopter
believes that the current maintenance and check procedures provided
they are correctly applied, are fully satisfactory and assure the
safety of Super Puma flight operations. In order to allow a majority of operators to limit the workload
related to a main gearbox intervention, Eurocopter have launched this
weekend a complementary ASB to comply with the 3rd point of the AAIB
Safety recommendation (2009-050). This ASB is already under
implementation by various operators and about 70 % of the Super Puma
AS332 L2 fleet in the North Sea will fly again by April the 23rd. All
the Oil and Gas companies operating Super Puma AS332 L2 helicopters in
the North Sea will start to fly again today.
Eurocopter is unable to comment further at this stage, since the investigation is ongoing. The Super Puma AS332 L2 is recognised by more than 20 operators in
15 countries as a high-performance helicopter operating in all-weather
conditions, offering safety, endurance and range. 83 aircraft of the
family are currently in service around the globe. The Super Puma family
has flown more than 3.7 millions hours. At Eurocopter, safety is and has always been the number one
priority: everyday, thousands of people fly on Eurocopter aircraft.
Eurocopter continues to improve its safety standards, requires
suppliers to do the same and shares this culture with customers. For more information, please click external link at bottom of page, or contact Eurocopter Southern Africa by clicking here
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