Canadian Sea Kings restricted to 'critical missions only' (Update)

[Heliport]

Canada.com report
Sea King helicopter fleet severely restricted after two aircraft lose power

HALIFAX (CP) - Investigators were examining the engines and gear boxes on two Sea King helicopters Thursday after the aircraft lost power in flight, forcing the military to restrict the fleet's flying time to only critical missions.

For one of the few times in its troubled 40-year history, the aircraft were ordered to stand down and not fly any non-operational flights. The six now able to take to the air in Halifax and the remaining Sea Kings in British Columbia will not be able to conduct routine training missions, but can still respond to emergencies.

That could change as early as Friday if engineers find enough similarities between the two mishaps to warrant a complete grounding of the geriatric fleet.

"If the incidents were linked it might point to a broader fleet-wide issue," Lt.-Col. Bruce Ploughman, operations officer of the Sea King fleet at Halifax's Shearwater base, said in a sprawling hanger containing nine of the helicopters.

The unusual measure comes after the two aircraft reported similar power failures in two separate incidents more than a month apart.

On Sept. 23, a Sea King was practising landings on the deck of HMCS Iroquois when there was an imbalance in the amount of power the engines were producing. The sudden loss caused the aircraft to fall more than a metre to the ship's deck. None of the crew was injured.

On Monday, another Sea King was on a training exercise outside Halifax when it temporarily lost power, causing it to dip before continuing to fly.

Lt.-Col. Dave Mason, commanding officer of the fleet's flight maintenance, said specialists were zeroing in on the fuel content, the fuel delivery to the engines, and the performance of the engines and gear boxes.

They were also looking at the way the engines and gear boxes were installed and maintained, since both helicopters came from the same hangar and might have been subject to flawed service.
Full story here (http://canada.com/national/story.asp?id=0A8F4455-9056-4BA8-A900-23AE5C95E8D5)

[Heliport]

940News Canada report Canada's Sea Kings cleared to fly without restrictions

HALIFAX (CP) - Canada's fleet of aging Sea King helicopters have been cleared to fly without restrictions after investigators hammered down the source of mechanical glitches, which caused inflight power losses in two aircraft.

"We are confident we have found the problem," said Col. Dave Martin, the commanding officer of 12 Wing, based in Shearwater, N.S. "We can go back to the way we were operating. It allows us to do the full range of missions, both at home and abroad."

The investigation discovered that a torque-measuring system in the helicopter was not operating properly, which caused one of the aircraft's two engines to cut out during flight.
There was also some bleeding of hydraulic fluid in the same system, which exacerbated the problem.

"The technical review has been very extensive," said Martin.
"The issue boiled down to our ability to match the two engines."
He said the glitch was the cause of two of three incidents which led the air force to suspend flight operations, except in emergencies, between Oct. 29 and Nov. 3 last year.

The third incident - the spectacular crash of a Sea King on the deck of a destroyer, HMCS Iroquois, last February - is still under investigation.

In the case of that incident, published reports last month suggested heavy saltwater spray may have contributed to the accident by blowing out an engine burner.

Martin said the findings on the torque-measuring system have been passed along to investigators in the Iroquois case.

Also, maintenance procedures have changed and Martin said he's satisfied the risk of further accidents has been reduced.

Between November and January, the Sea Kings, many of which are over 40 years old, were allowed to fly under restrictions.

In partially lifting some of those prohibitions on Jan. 12, the air force announced that pilots would be given additional training on how to ditch in the ocean and fly on only one engine.

That training will not be complete until the summer, said Martin.

The first flight crew to become fully operational will be the one posted to the frigate HMCS Toronto, which is in the Persian Gulf.

The frigate's helicopter was not available when the warship departed a few weeks ago and the aircraft is currently en route, being carried in the hold of a cargo ship.

The fact that the choppers can fly full missions again comes as a relief to pilots, who have felt frustrated by the seemingly endless series of mechanical glitches encountered by the helicopters, which are primarily used by the navy's frigates and destroyers.
"You hate being less useful than you used to be," said Capt. Mark Koester. "You didn't feel useless, but you felt less useful."

Koester said all of the bad publicity given to the Sea Kings is taken with a grain of salt by the flight crews.
All of the attention on the helicopter's problem has been "a little over the top," he said.

The lifting of restrictions came on the same day as Koester piloted Sea King 436 into Shearwater after a 2½-week journey from a base on the West Coast.
The helicopter made national headlines by breaking down less than halfway through its flight from Victoria to Halifax. It was repeatedly grounded by faulty hydraulics, short-circuited instruments and a broken heater.

Koester downplayed the cross-country odyssey.
"It's pretty standard that it takes a few extra days to get across the country, depending on weather and aircraft snags," he said.

The Sea Kings were due to be replaced in 1993, but the newly elected Liberal government of the day cancelled the multibillion-dollar program.
Last December, the federal government posted a tender call for 28 replacement helicopters at an expected cost of $3 billion.

[MarkD]

from the Globe - full article here (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050529.wkings0529/BNStory/National)

(extract)
Ottawa — The troublesome Sea King helicopter has apparently hit a new low.

In a high-seas operation earlier this year, the chopper aboard HMCS Ville de Quebec was available only about one day in every five because of frequent malfunctions. It's believed to be the worst-ever performance aboard a ship.

“As a result of exceptionally poor serviceability, in the region of 20 per cent . . . few training opportunities were completed,” says an internal report obtained under the Access to Information Act.