gasax, nobody is saying that the current accident rate is acceptable. However, as you will know, very infrequent events can throw up a good bit of randomness that can make them cluster. So the question is, is this spate an unfortunate random cluster (which by the way, has used up all our ditchings for the next 20 years at least!) or is there an underlying cause. Or a bit of both? Either way, its clear that it is not the fault of the SP as witnessed by the Norwegian accident record on this type - they have only had 1 fatal accident (albeit a bad one) that I can recall.
In that Norne accident IIRC there were some maintenance failings (not following best practice for HUMS, and the original maintenance error that led to the nut coming loose) and they have subsequently upped their game considerably.
Let us also mention that Bristow last put a SP in the N Sea water in 1995 (GTIGK lightning strike, everyone was OK) and before that in 1992 (GTIGH N Cormorant, several fatalities). The first was the "fault" of the aircraft in a way, but really because the certification requirements in force at the time were insufficient to deal with mother nature. The second was in no way the fault of the aircraft, it was pilot error combined with commercial pressure. (I am for the sake of this discussion, discounting the SAR L2 in Den Helder)
So the question is, why has Bristow not put a SP into the N Sea water since 1995 when the others seem to be making a habit of it? Is it luck, is it because we are jolly clever chaps, or what? I honestly don't know, as from where I sit the other operators are very similar to us in their attitudes and competancies. But as I mentioned, a case can be made that these accidents (last one aside for the time being) were avoidable. The operators did 99.99% things correctly, but they fell down in some small way and were bitten by it. Aviation can be very unforgiving.
If you want my honest opinion, I would say Bristow's track record vs the others is mostly luck. We have our weaknesses and failings, but we have been lucky that they have never bitten us.
So in summary, we all do things correctly 99.99% of the time, but in aviation that is not sufficient and we have to strive to do better, even Bristow, whose turn it definitely is to have the next one! But what is also clear is that its not a fundamental failing of the SP, and the anti-SP campaign will only serve to obscure the underlying issues and is therefore very dangerous.
Last edited by HeliComparator; 27th Aug 2013 at 08:40.