My summer S-76D briefing for O&G OPS showed 3 rows of energy attenuating seats in the cabin (so that includes the rear row atop the fuel cell) and energy attenuating crew seats too, oh and Type IV windows front and rear either side of the single action jettisonable cabin door.
For all the latest hullabaloo about crash worthy fuel cells and seats from a certain O&G customer (and no doubt their chain was pulled by a certain OEM), I cannot for the life of me recall a single EC155 or S-76 that burned post a survivable impact in resent years, because the fuel cell was not up to the latest and greatest crashworthiness standards (I am aware of a certain S-76 EMS incident, but as the rotors struck a fuel bowser in the final moments, the post accident fire did not stem from the lack of a crashworthy fuel cell).
As for stroking seats, just how many cases of serious injury or death in the O&G or VIP helicopter sectors (expressed in percentage terms per million flight hours) were caused as a result of not having energy attenuating seats these past 10 years and more?
For me, ‘Proven Safety’ wins over the latest certification standards when I step into a machine, be it on land, sea or air.