S92 OEI into Sumburgh
 

North Sea helicopter in emergency landing at Sumburgh - BBC News

Usual BBC over dramatic headline of 'emergency landing"

FR24 shows 2 x S92 dispatched for down-manning the platform. Wing man overhauls the OEI aircraft and leaves him to his night overwater OEI transit and approach.

So to turn a non story into a meaningful discussion: would you shepherd the OEI aircraft on his diversion to nearest suitable or would you press on with your pax to original destination?

If an engine failure is in the EP's of the RFM they are probably correct?

Without knowledge of the exact circumstance - difficult to answer that one.

In the first instance as we now have a single engine helicopter out in the North Sea in the dark if you had the option you would possibly stay with them as a first priority. If they did end up in the Ogen you could at least tell somebody where they were and probably not much else?

I have "Aux Batt Off" in my EOP, but it doesn't make it an emergency landing.

Nescafe

I guess our are flying an AW139. If not ignore my comments.

The RFM for the 139 is a technical document written exclusively for the certification process, hence now the clamour from all corners of industry for a Flight Crew Operations Manual. These are currently available for the EC 225 (RIP) and the S92 and will soon be available for the 139.

The RFM currently advises the reader to 'continue flight' in the event of a 'Main Battery Hot' event, likewise for the 'Alt Batt Hot'. Perhaps most astonishingly it says the same if both events occur simultaneously.

This goes to show that the the context of a malfunction/emergency is very important. With any of those Batt Hot events I would indeed continue fight but only if I was downwind in the circuit which is probably where the Flight Test Engineer who wrote the procedure was when he came up with the drill.

If there is a tendency in our industry I would like to change it is the apparent desire NOT to tell the world you have a problem. Even worse even when it is acknowledged by the crew that they have an issue and tell ATC they use mealy-mouthed words like:

"We are returning with a technical issue"

When challenged by the controller - "are you declaring an emergency" they still refuse to use the magic words PAN PAN.... PAN PAN... PAN PAN.

Why not??

G.

Maybe they were concerned about the runway possibly being fouled by the OEI aircraft.

Not really a big deal. In the airline world, there is usually 1x IFSD or engine problem / rejected takeoff about every 1.5 days somewhere.

Agree, but the airline world is a MUCH bigger world.

Alas, the North Sea has had more than it's fair share of tradegy in recent years so any helicopter 'emergency' will make the news whatever the peers think.

Hmm.....well, having had an engine shut down on me for no apparent reason on a dark, snowy, North Sea winter's night some 70 minutes from the nearest land I can assure you for me it was certainly a big deal....... but then I always was a 'what's going to happen next' kind of guy not a bold pilot who isn't phased by these happenings.

Well,if I was the local CP,I`d invite the `other crew` for an early morning `coffee and biccies`,but no coffee or biccies, to explain their reasoning for not assisting the aircraft in` distress`....If that is what happened....even if the aircraft with the problem does`nt want assistance/declare an emergency ,etc,common sense and professional etiquette as a Captain should come first...

Another snippet...


Double North Sea Drama As Helicopter Down-Manning Workers Makes Emergency Landing - Oil and Gas News

Flying a helicopter with one engine? Phew! Whatever next?

Yes, I guess the second S92 would have a problem if it couldn't land on the runway. :rolleyes:

I would have stayed with the OEI.

Runway Blocked
 

It always amazes me (an overused word) but why would a HELICOPTER worry about a blocked runway on a huge airfield? It could land on the hardstanding outside the terminal building, bearing in mind how they land offshore. In fact, back in the day, helicopters did just that.

The second aircraft should have accompanied, given the conditions.

Can we please get a grip.

Sq

Would the OEI helicopter have been tracked by either radar or satellite? If so I'm wondering what value the second helicopter would have added?

Surprisingly, some very modern aircraft have their sat tracking system wired to the non essential bus bar that is shed in the event of OEI

Wasn't OEI, chip indication without secondary so just a roll back to idle. Can be rolled back up if required. Everything offshore these days is satellite tracked, with 30 sec frequency if you flip the "concerned" switch. Good call by the crew of the other aircraft, if they had loitered around in the dark trying to stay visual with the slower aircraft to only provide a location that is already well known, then they'd be in my office the next day.

Different strokes... this is a profession, not a support group.

I sometimes wish we had a "like" button on this forum. The last 6 posts deserve a "like". Common sense seems to be getting quite rare. :D:D

The non-essential bus gets shed OEI, really?

The S92 does not have a non-essential bus and, regardless, does not shed any buses after an engine shutdown. It uses MGB driven generators - not engine starter/generators.

That said, you do come across some odd wiring examples on different types, as Max Con says. The one that really struck me was reading the Air Transat A330 report, where they dumped all their fuel out of a leaking pipe over the Atlantic, at night, and then dead-sticked into the Azores. The CVFDR was shed after the second flame out, so the investigators lost the last 30 min of the flight! Turns out that that's a standard practice, but now being addressed.

Very true, the S92 does not shed any busses OEI but will shed certain services upon a generator failure - AVC, No.1 Eng Anti-Ice etc.
Industry is slowly catching up with CVFDR problems in that most new CVFDR installations have an independent (battery) power supply to power them on the event of loss of main power.