GF I think it may depend on type. The max torque in the cruise is around 80% for the 225 and L2, although we cruise the 225 at max cruise (~80%), everyone seems to operate the L2 at max cruise 65%. The S92 can I think be cruised at 100%, although nobody does that. So I don't think anybody cruises at >80% in UK sector. So we are left with the very brief excursions above 80% that occur during takeoff and maybe landing. I am not aware that our colleagues in Norway have any restriction on doing this - it is after all part of the spectrum of usage from which fatigue and life calculations derive. In any case, mandating a power limit for takeoff and landing could be counter-productive since it would be far worse to reduce the clearance from the structure, so that one day, the structure might be hit, as opposed to using the allowed full power.
Therefore, I don't see that the point made by SteinarN can be correct, and he does indicate that he is neither pilot nor engineer, so I suspect something perhaps "lost in translation".
I did read the execuitive summary of the Sintef #3 report. Whilst it contains a good deal of sense, most of the specifics are in fact platitudes that don't really indicate the detail of a way forward or indeed why the Norwegian side seems to have a better safety record than this side.
Having had a bit to do with our colleagues in Norway, I don't think there is a fundamental difference in the way we operate, and whilst I know less about how we maintain, again I dont think there is a significant difference, other than perhaps a cultural difference between Norwegian attitudes and UK attitudes. There does however seem to be more funding available in Norway, and greater reluctance from the oil companies to force the operators to keep their costs down - ie less "race to the bottom" than we have seen here. I know its an old line, but I do see the oil companies obession with minimising how much they spend on helicopter transportation, when it represents a tiny part of their overall budget, as a possible factor in at least some of the recent spate of accidents.
The difference between having an accident and nearly having an accident can be very small, and perhaps it is therefore a fairly small difference in resourcs that is responsible for the differing statistics.
Last edited by HeliComparator; 25th Aug 2013 at 16:03.