Gentlemen (and Ladies),
I awoke to find five new pages to this thread from when I left it late last night.
It took a full cup of coffee to read through the new posts and consider what I had read.
In a previous post I warned that there would be shoulder dropping, finger pointing, spinning, etc....before this issue or issues had been resolved.
I was right....it started while I was sound asleep, safely snug in my bed.
Air Wave in post 440 hit the Nail squarely on the Head.....every damn one of you posting here need to go back and read that post again.
Reasurances that you'll investigate specific incidents mean nothing, you already do that and it doesn't actually make any difference.
(in the overall picture)
Too many and too often is the problem.
He stated words to the effect...."Every accident gets investigated and recommendations are made." His point being, as I understood it....is the "System" never gets investigated.
That is the crux of the problem.....the entire system needs investigating and the System needs fixing. It is the System that is causing the problems that manifest themselves in the form of Incidents, Ditchings, and Crashes.
A direct example of what I am talking about.....the Bristow 76 that had the Lightning Struck Rotor Blade re-installed on a different Aircraft.
HC refuses to accept, admit, or confront the Bristow Management Decision to re-use that Blade after it had been involved in a Lightning Strike on a different aircraft.
Get him to list the damage done to the aircraft that was struck by Lightning and pass judgement on the Management Decision, which would have required the Engineers agreeing to it.
That Blade should never have been put back into service.
He is correct there was a manufacturing defect in the blade that upon being struck by Lightning.....led to the blade failure. The defect would not otherwise have harmed the integrity of the blade EXCEPT for the Lightning Strike.
The System failed in that case and good Men died as direct result.
Ask HC what the Bristow Policy is now on re-using parts from aircraft that are struck by Lightning.
Folks, Drop the Shields!
Go back and look at every single accident, at every single incident, and re-consider all the causes of the problems. That is what is needed....not protecting your turf, shifting blame, spinning the truth.
The Truth is the UK North Sea Helicopter operation has problems that need to directly addressed.
The Accident rate in the GOM are DOWN.....even the US HEMS Industry Accident Rates are DOWN. They had to go down as they damn sure could not go up very much. Key.....The American Helicopter Industry and the FAA did something. Kicking and Screaming....they did something but they finally admitted there was a problem and then set out to improve the situation.
That is where you are today.....and kicking and screaming you are going to have to do something about it.
Nick Lappos in a Safety Seminar I attended.....said "The harder you have to argue you have no problem.....the bigger your problem really is."
So ya'll keep on arguing about how big your problem is.