PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - EC 225 Return to REAL Service
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Old 23rd Dec 2016, 12:45
  #104 (permalink)  
Twist & Shout
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: OZ
Posts: 281
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Some people seem to be interchanging "Super Puma", AS332L, L1, L2, and EC225.

My understanding is that the AS332L2 (one member of the "Super Puma" family), and the EC225* have a different gearbox to the "L" and "L1" Super Pumas.
This new gearbox has failed several times with fatal results. These failures have not been adequately explained, let alone fixed.

Does that sum up the factual situation?

Lots of statistics quoted on this thread, try to cover the whole family, from AS330 - EC225, and blur the actual current problem.
IE Not that the family of helicopters doesn't have an acceptable or unacceptable safety record. Not even that the EC225 has an unacceptable or acceptable safety record.
But simply the transmission design used in the the L2 model, and the EC225 model has failed fatally, and there seems no reason why it won't fail fatally again if they continue to fly.

That is the problem, and I believe the basis for grounding of those two variants by every responsible aviation authority.

*(not generally refered to as a "Super Puma" by anyone in the industry. Sometimes referred to comedically as a "Super Doopa Pumu")
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