Maintenance Speculation
Despite all the speculation about potential maintenance issues it would seem, as is so often the case, that there is not one blindly obvious explanation for this incident. TBF given HS/CHC's reputation as a top notch maintenance outfit it would be extremely surprising if this was the case.
Despite the pressure the various authorities must be under to release some news or relax the ban, if they felt it was safe to do so they would have surely done so by now. Consequently I'm a bit confused by the statement from Airbus. When they stated on 1 May; "Considering the additional information gathered during the last 48 hours, Airbus Helicopters’ decision, at this stage, is to not suspend flights of any nature for the EC225LP".
Given that the Norwegian and British authorities must also be in possession of this information it is strange that 13 days later they haven't releaxed the ban.
It is unsurprising that the regulators are more cautious than the manufacturer here but they will usual make statements when significant information comes to light. Their statement of 3 May didn't really endorse Aibus Helicoters' comments.
Does anyone know if there are any planned press conferences/announcements or will they not release any information until they feel they have something significant to say?