The Finnish passenger helicopter operator Copterline is seeking damages of 60 million US dollars from the helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky over a deadly crash that claimed the lives of 14 people in August 2005.
A Sikorsky S-76 helicopter with 12 passengers and two crew members plunged into the Gulf of Finland soon after leaving the Estonian capital Tallinn on August 10th, 2005.
Copterline is seeking damages of at least 60 million US dollars (EUR 45.8 million) in a US court against Sikorsky, saying that the manufacturer's negligence was the cause of the fatal crash.
Copterline is accusing Sikorsky of breach of warranty, negligence, aggravated carelessness, and neglecting its obligation to give a warning.
Copterline CEO
Kari Ljungberg says that he is unable to comment on the matter at this stage in the process. No comment was forthcoming from Sikorsky during the company's Christmas vacation.
Copterline and Sikorsky have been engaged in lengthy discussions on matters of liability. The focus of the issue is one part of the stricken helicopter - the servo, which relays steering commands to the main rotor.
Copterline says that the the poor design of the part led to the destruction of the helicopter. Sikorsky has steadfastly maintained that there was nothing wrong with the servo, or any other part of the helicopter, and that the cause of the crash has to be somewhere else.
Now the company appears to be relenting somewhat: shortly before Christmas Sikorsky published an urgent maintenance instruction, calling for more frequent inspections of the servo.
The reason for the new guideline was not given, but it came very soon after the commission of inquiry into the accident had completed a series of thorough servo tests conducted in the United States.
The board is not revealing the results of the test. However, a final report on the Copterline accident is expected in April, according to the vice chairman of the commission,
Tonu Ader.
Copterline had bought the servo of the doomed helicopter from the Sikorsky subsidiary, Helicopter Support Inc. (HSI) a year earlier, paying 14,500 dollars for the part. HSI is a co-defendant in the lawsuit.
Source: Helsingin Sanomat
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Cop.../1135224029647