Two S-92s "abort flight" in NL, June 18 2009

[Widow]

Is the media making mountains out of molehills?

Safety warnings cause two N.L. offshore chopper flights to return to base
By THE CANADIAN PRESS – 50 minutes ago

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Two Sikorsky S-92 helicopters headed for offshore oil platforms off the coast of Newfoundland aborted flights on Wednesday because of warnings from onboard safety systems.

The aircraft are the same model as the helicopter that crashed on March 12 during an offshore flight, killing 17 of the 18 people on board.

The base operations manager at Cougar Helicopters said in one incident, an indicator showed fragments of metal had accumulated in lubricants for the main gearbox.

Hank Williams said as a precaution the aircraft returned to its base in St. John's, and the main gearbox is being examined to determine the amount of metal that was in the fluid and whether it caused any damage.

"Our maintenance team is analyzing those detectors to see was there much metal there, how much and then they are referring to the Sikorsky manual for the next step in the protocol," he said.

He said the detectors pick up small fragments of metal with a magnet, and when enough accumulates, it sets off a warning light in the cockpit.

At that point it is standard protocol to abort the flight and return to the nearest landing point.

"It's not a chunk indicator, it's a chip indicator. You can barely see it (the chip) on top of your fingertip most times," said Williams.

Sheldon Peddle, the president of a union that represents 700 workers on Hibernia and Terra Nova oil platforms, said workers are anxious after the crash of an S-92 in March killed 17 people.

"For our people, it is very unnerving to have these kind of issues going on, especially when you talk gearbox," said Peddle.

The Transportation Safety Board has said that in the March 12 crash, the main gearbox lost its lubricating oil just minutes before the aircraft went down.

Williams said the company is following strict protocols in "a sensor-filled aircraft," and the incidents in Wednesday were not serious.

In the second incident, which occurred earlier in the day, the pilot returned to base after determining that there might be a problem restarting the engines.

In that case, the problem was with the auxiliary power unit, which provides power to start the engines.

Williams said the aircraft could have continued to the offshore platform, and, if necessary, could have used an external power source to restart.

Williams said the pilot decided it would be wiser to return to the base.

The oil workers departed on another aircraft on Thursday morning, and landed safely on the Hibernia platform.

The latest reports of problems came on the same day as the Transportation Safety Board of Canada released an update on the crash in March.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadi ... zl9i3EbtoA

[Louis]

In this article I think yes.

Until the TSB and Sikorsky have a better idea of, and a fix for, possible gearbox issues, there's little else pilots can be do apart from relying on caution systems like a chip light and acting on it. Like this one did.

The second seems more like a case of logistics where it was better to return and fix the APU than use a GPU. (Not being familiar with the S-92; what's wrong with starting off a GPU, or is it more a case of it being unavailable/possibly unserviceable on the platform?)

[The Mole]

Chip lights happen often, in helicopters. 99% of the time its fuzz, or bearing mud. The procedure is Land as soon a possible.
The medias making a mountain out of a mole hill.

[mark_]

Exactly Mole,

All helicopters have chip detectors on the gearboxes and chip warnings are not uncommon. Both concerns high lighted in the article are unrelated to the tragic Cougar accident.

Mark

[rampking]

No doubt the media is making a big deal out of it but, obviously they are going to report it. The workers and there families on these choppers are concerned and then to have two in the same day, one declaring an emergency, the other for ops reasons. The recent accident is still fresh in everyone's minds and it will be for years here. If cougar so much as picks up turbulence it will probably be in the papers. Not defending just saying I guess. Wouldn't get me on one........not over the Atlantic anyways......

king

[SeptRepair]

I would have thought the 92 would have had chip detectors with the fuzz burn option, much like they do on the 76. Anyone know if they do? Carholme?

[carholme]

SeptRepair;

Yes, the S92 has the fuzz burners but they are only designed to remove the nuisance sludge and ensure that there is not a real threat size chip on the detector. When the burn pulse is sent through the detector, it will remove the nuisance material but if there is material above a certain size, it will remain and keep the caution warning segment illuminated.

carholme