Sumburgh Disaster 1986
 

I want to write this message to all involved in the Offshore Helicopter Industry
as Monday 6th November is the day 45 Passenger and Crew lost thier lives in what was one of the world's worst Helicopter accidents in history

Thursday 6th November 1986 20 years ago a British International Chinook G-BWFC was returning to Sumburgh with 3 crew and 44 passengers when 1 mile from Sumburgh the machine dithched with 45 lives lost.

Can we please use this day as a mark of respect to all the families that were involved and to all involoved in the offshore helicopter industry.

This was a very sad day for many reason that I shall describe.

RIP

A rather poignant recollection of the tragic events of 20 years ago. :(

http://www.shetlandtoday.co.uk/Shetl...ontentID=20701

the only real info I could find on the net was this para in a CAA human factors publication:-

2.9 In October 1994 there was an incident3 involving a Chinook helicopter where the drive
shaft connecting bolts were removed in two places but only recorded as having been
taken out in one. The result was that the drive shafts desynchronised during ground
runs and the intermeshing blades collided. If this had happened in-flight (as it did later,
with this same aircraft4, in 1986), the results would have been catastrophic.

http://www.deepsloweasy.com/HFE%20re...aintenance.pdf

Was the 1986 accident due to a maintenance problem or Catastrophic failure of the synchro shaft.

The official report is available frpm Amazon

I seem to recall it was caused by a carastrophic (bureaucratic meddling) failure at the CAA who dictated a mod to the gearbox that the company and Boeing engineers thought was not necessary as they had a perfectly acceptable local solution available. As a direct result of this mod a corrosion pit formed, became a stress crack and the big crown wheel's rim, ie the teeth, peeled off and siezed up the 'box.

Dosn't time go by. I can remember as a child living Aberdeen that accident but really during that period it just seemed to be a succession of kids in school getting taken out of class not to be seen for the rest of the week.

Be it divers getting sucked into pipes, blow outs, crushed by gear. I don't think there was a single year at school that didn't have someone who had lost a dad or dad was in a wheelchair.

I don't think there was anyone in Aberdeen who hadn't been linked to a oil death personally over that period. The last for me was Les my Scout leader who was a OIM on Piper A, I always wonder what happen to his boys who were the exception to the standard yank brats which used to appear and go.

Eric had an interesting story about his survival which my dad used as a moral story quite a few times.