Yes but look at it from AH point of view..

1. Despite some green shoots the E&P market for heavies is down and recovering only very slowly. Most think its halcyon days are gone. The accidents have left the /2 and 225 with a damaged reputation. Only 20 something have yet returned to E&P.

2. It is not economic to embark on a complete redesign at this stage in the product lifecycle. This is compounded by the inability to track down a definitive cause of the current problem.

3. The 225 is selling well in the military/quasi military arena with 54 orders last year and production being scaled-up to meet demand

4. The successor project has been suspended as AH don't think the technology or demand for it is sufficient yet

So it is easier and cheaper for them to play second place in E&P and try and prevent further accidents with the measures they have introduced. They seem to believe they can sleep easily with that and they have much better knowledge of the problem than I. i hope for everyone's sake they are right.

Hopefully the AIBN will find a definitive cause but at the moment their silence is deafening.

But the S-92 has hardly been without its own gearbox failures....

Of course you are completely correct ShyTorque but I would prefer to travel to my demise in reasonable comfort than squashed like a sardine in a tin.

The Puma, and its successors, has always been a military helicopter. Narrow, so it can fit on to a railway truck, low, so that with the gearbox removed it is tactically air portable with a cabin designed for squaddies to sit in for fifteen minutes before they go to war.

Not a lot has changed over the years.

The cabin is still cramped, the passengers have to surmount a step to get in and it must be the last commercial aircraft in the world where the crew have to climb up the outside of the aircraft to get into the cockpit.

Its day has gone; like me, I flew them for thirty six years and they have had enough of the civilian world.

Militarily is different. The specifications haven't changed a lot and they are abreast with the electronics and systems so there is still a future.

Its like the Comet and the Nimrod.

What he said. Except I didn't fly them anywhere near as long as Fareastdriver, thankfully.

NEO

New home for some of the ex-CHC machines:

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...opters-449103/

Interesting. One wonders how they can afford this ?

That's because you don't know the price of a second hand 225 (ex O&G) !
.

on contrary, 225/725 are selling slightly lesser price tag but definitely no where close to 50%. Actually been a good sell for 2 consecutive years.

Ooo, so much spin I'm feeling dizzy ;)

ICG Icelandic Coast Guard is getting two H225 Þyrlur Gæslunnar endurnýjaðar langt á undan áætlun: ?Stórt skref fram á við? - Vísir

Earth is round and spinning. Hold on tight!

Just thinking out loud...Would the French oil companies be interested to use "their" machines in future offshore contracts?

Who said the 225 would never fly commercially on O&G again? Obviously Total E&P seem happy to take them on board. I am sure these flights will be watched like a hawk by others

I'm not sure anybody did, and in some countries they never stopped (Vietnam), however I don't think anybody seriously thinks they will appear in the N. Sea again.

Tip Cap wrote:

There is a lot of background to this. C'est Team France in action.

As time goes on, more aircraft are being returned to leasing companies. The market is still down, Super Mediums are becoming established where they make sense, in some cases replacing what were 225 contracts. There are spare S-92s available on the market. Many new tenders no longer include the 225 as a qualified type.

Spare S92's, but no surplus of type rated pilots and companies reluctant to pay for the ratings. Industry is on its head, anyway I digress...