Re: UK Coastguard SAR - Bristow out??
I'm definitely going on holiday any moment now...
Coaly - EASA have just certified their first ever aircraft with a limited icing clearance. Its not based on any "grandfathering" because such a certification never existed as far as the rest of Europe was concerned. 332Ls and L2s registered anywhere else in Europe have no limited icing clearance. For them its a new concept and I can assure you they have looked at it vey closely before granting it. Its true that part of the process of assuring them it was a good idea was to point out that it has been common practice on the UK side of the N Sea for 20 years + without (in my company at any rate) any reported incidents and definitely no accidents.
So if grandfathering means it has been done before then yes, it was grandfathered just like the 92 is grandfathered because it copied the idea of having 2 engines, a main rotor and a tail rotor. But use of the term "grandfathered" in my opinion is just your way of having an uninformed dig at it - maybe you are jealous but if not, I suggest you go fly the S92.
Of course Sky could have applied for a limited icing clearance for the S92 but decided not to - perhaps because the concept was not invented in their office. AB could for the 139 but I am not sure if they will.
The Ops Manual procedures are justified against JAR-OPS 3. They do not over-ride the limitations in the FM, but merely create a suitable operational framework to ensure safe ops. In fact JAR-OPS 3 is fairly vague about that at the moment (leaving it mainly up to the NAAs) and I believe there is an amendment in progress to tighten it up, to better reflect the well-tried procedures we use in the UK N Sea, so that there is a level playing field across JAA states.
The bottom line is, like it or not, the concept of limited icing clearance has worked well and safely for many years in the particular circumstances of the N Sea and full de-icing gives only a tiny operational benefit (the ability to fly on those 0.5% of days) which is outweighed by the cost and weight, in the opinion of our paymasters.
HC