BALPA | STATEMENT ON THE NORTH SEA L2 INCIDENT
human error then?
BALPA members wish to extend their deepest sympathies to the families of those who have lost their lives in the recent helicopter accident, as well as to the survivors who have undergone such a traumatic experience. BALPA members understand only too well the concerns of passengers about safety and wish to reassure them that pilots will not operate if the statutory authorities advise against or if individual crews believe, for whatever reason, it is unsafe so to do.
Pending release of the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) report we believe, based on experience in the field of accident investigation, that it is a mistake to draw early conclusions which often prove wide of the mark. And, to be clear, the recent suspension of operations was not based on an AAIB recommendation or proven safety concerns but was an understandable response by the companies which charter the operations and if that approach continues then BALPA will support it.
In the meantime BALPA wishes to confirm that the confidence of its members in the Super Puma family of aircraft remains unchanged. Indeed the aircraft continues to operate commercial air transport flights throughout the rest of the world including the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. We should not rush to judge an aircraft which has 3 very different variants and has successfully transported millions of passengers worldwide in safety over 30 years of operation.
However once the recommendations of the AAIB accident report into last Friday’s accident have been published, BALPA believes there is a need to take a step back and, as well as reviewing each of the 5 individual accident investigations, to consider as a whole what can be done to improve the safety of both the offshore workforce (our passengers) and BALPA members who share the same risks, but on a daily basis. Such an investigation might usefully take a comparative view on the approaches of our Norwegian colleagues who do things in the same geographic operating area yet with an apparently better safety record.