VL -so you agree that the S92 oil pump drive ultimately has a single path / point if failure, just like the 225 one does.
DWT I can only speak for myself. The industry having had 4 events in the past few years (fortunately none affecting our company) that is pretty unusual compared to the last 10 or so years of calm.
One very nasty event (the L2) stands out as being unsurvivable, with some remaining uncertainty about the cause of the failure. However I am slightly reassured that the event could probably have been prevented had correct maintenance procedures been followed.
The ETAP ditching was a result of inappropriate procedures and a degree of pilot foolishness. Since it would be me at the sharp end, it would be up to me to not repeat that type of accident, but anyway our company's procedures are pretty robust in this area.
The two oil pump drive failures, both detectable by HUMS had it been used rigorously, is what seems to have really upset the apple cart, merely because the cause was believed to be known but then there was a repeat, indicating the cause was not in fact known.
Not that I have any desire to be one of those passengers or pilots finding themselves in the water, but the outcomes were: no injuries except perhaps mental ones. This I think we can put down to wrapping things up in a thick layer of training for both pilots and pax, safety equipment and the availability of SAR. It is this layer of "extras" that turns a potentially disastrous accident into no more than an unpleasant event.
So 1 fatal accident in the last 10 yrs or so, whilst being 1 too many, is not a bad record I think when we in Bristow have completed perhaps 100,000 hrs just out of Abz, with other operators probably matching that.
Put it another way, when you or I die, it will almost certainly not be as a result of a helicopter accident (mind you, I do drive a motorbike!). Drinking and smoking will kill far more of your colleagues than a heli will.
Life is tenuous and precious, but if we become too bogged down with thinking about the remotest possible ways we might die, we would never get anything done and lead a long but valueless life.
Personally I am really looking forward to getting back into the air in an EC225 because it is a fantastic and safe machine, albeit with one component out of thousands suffering from a serious design problem that has to be fixed.
Of course, if my company decides I have to do an S92 conversion in the mean time, that would be a catastrophe!
Last edited by HeliComparator; 9th Nov 2012 at 08:58.