It's not difficult to imagine that those who are responsible for buying helicopter services are going to find it difficult to trust the design/manufacture/certification processes ever again. There will be those who would prefer going back to older designs that are mature and are better understood by those that fly and maintain them.
If new designs are to be accepted by the end users then the certification process needs greater transparency and a more questioning authority. Having made that point it will be difficult for the certification team to get their heads around innovative designs unless they have been exposed, from the earliest possible point in the development process, to the thoughts and computations used by the OEM.
It is quite stunning for this non-technically qualified pilot to hear that the design of both the S92 and the 225 used single pathways for the activation of both main and back-up oil pumps that serve the single most important component in the drive train - the Main Transmission Gearbox. Tell me I have it wrong somebody - please. I cannot believe this is true - I must have misunderstood.
G.
