Emergency directive for Sikorsky S-92A helicopters

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Sikorsky S92A helicopters are expected to be grounded until the mounting stud on the main gearbox filter bowl are changed. Following examination of the wreckage from a Canadian helicopter crash, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is developing an emergency safety directive for operators of similar Sikorsky helicopters to change titanium studs to steel studs before any S-92A helicopters can take to the air again.

Cougar Helicopters Flight 91 crashed into the north Atlantic Ocean last Friday, March 13, killing 17 of the 18 people on board. All bodies were recovered Tuesday and they have been released by the coroner to their families. The voice and flight data recorders have been retrieved and are in good condition. They have been sent to Ottawa for examination by aviation officials.

Mr. Robert Decker was the only survivor and has not recovered enough to speak with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). "Mr. Decker was back in the fuselage and what happened during the occurrence, happened in the cockpit and Mr. Decker wouldn't be privy to that. But on the issue of survivability, he may be able to help with that," said Dave Cunningham, of the Transportation Safety Board.

A review of immersion suit standards of the two year old suits worn during this trip is being called for by the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, Danny Williams. Williams is also urging for a review of offshore safety procedures, including placement of search and rescue aircraft closer to the capital.

The final report on the crash will take about a year to compile, however Cunningham will speak to the media at the end of next week.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Related news

"All bodies recovered from Canadian helicopter crash" — Wikinews, March 17, 2009
"Search for survivors of Canadian helicopter crash ends, recovery mission focuses on victims" — Wikinews, March 16, 2009
"Recovery planned for crashed Canadian helicopter" — Wikinews, March 15, 2009
"Canadian helicopter with 18 onboard crashes into Atlantic Ocean" — Wikinews, March 13, 2009

Sources

Wikipedia

Wikipedia has more about this subject:

Cougar Helicopters Flight 91

Lucy Campbell. "Known Defect Could Have Caused Crash of Hibernia-Bound Sikorsky Helicopter" — Online Legal Marketing, March 20, 2009
"Broken mounting stud found in N.L. helicopter wreckage" — CBC News, March 20, 2009
"Canada: US will ground helicopters" — The Associated Press, March 20, 2009
"Broken part found on doomed helicopter" — The Canadian Press, March 20, 2009
"Hundreds mourn victims of Canada helicopter crash" — SINA Corporation, March 19, 2009
Ken Meaney. "N.L. calls for investigation into survival suit standards" — Canwest News Service, March 19, 2009
Ken Meaney. "Wreckage suggests N.L. helicopter nosedived into ocean" — Canwest News Service, March 19, 2009

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License