Originally Posted by
oldpax
1/10th the cost in USA ,how about safety?
Old PAX.
In the US, about 80 aircraft in the power line construction / maintenance industry in the USA alone. (excluding power line patrol)
I would say at least 50 are flying any given day. Each does about 600-1000 hours a year. Lets call that 50,000 hours a year of power line construction and maintenance.
There is about 1 accident a year for the past few years. That is about 2:100,000 hours. (it was 2-3/year until 2012)
There seems to be about 1 accident a year in the north sea.
How many aircraft fly daily oil and gas in the north sea?
Regardless, It is a better rate than the Air ambulance rate in the USA, and government owned helicopters and about 1/3 the rate of privately owned helicopters. The only industry with a discernibly lower accident rate is oil and gas.
Certainly, there are opportunities for improvement. Mostly in the most common accident/incidents maintenance related causes, fuel exhaustion, rotor strikes, mis-rigged loads, electrical causes, external load control, and FOD.