Malaysian authorities say cabin filled with smoke before helicopter hit the sea
Malaysia's civil aviation department DCA has ruled out poor weather as a contributing factor to last month's accident involving a Eurocopter Super Puma L2 and says that the cabin filled with smoke before the helicopter plunged into the sea.
The Super Puma L2 crashed off the coast of east Malaysia on 30 January, the third major recent accident involving Super Puma helicopters from Malaysian Helicopter Services (MHS) Aviation.
The latest accident occurred when a Super Puma L2 was flying Petronas oil workers from one offshore oil rig to another, says the DCA. The helicopter crashed around 75km (40nm) off the coast of Bintalu in east Malaysia and one of the 10 people on board drowned, it says. The wreckage ended up 30m (100ft) below sea level, says the DCA.
Authorities plan to salvage the wreck and recover the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder. The DCA says those on board reported that the cabin filled with smoke before the crash. It adds that "there were strong winds, but this is not a factor".
MHS Aviation's fleet comprises five Super Puma L1s and two L2s, says MHS Aviation commercial manager Capt Rahmat Hussain. It also has 10 Sikorsky S-76s, a Eurocopter Dauphin and three Eurocopter EC350s.
Hussain says the Super Puma L1s have continued operations, but the L2s have been subject to a voluntary "safety stand-down" and will return to full service as soon "as approved inspections [are] accomplished",
The DCA has banned MHS Aviation from landing on oil rigs using radar-guided instrument approaches if visibility is below 5km, the department's only restriction on the operator so far.
In November last year an L2 crashed into the sea after it "encountered a severe tropical storm on final phase of a radar-guided instrument approach to the rig". A year earlier another pilot was forced to ditch a Super Puma into the sea following tail rotor failure.
The fledgling Malaysian maritime enforcement agency MMEA is to acquire six helicopters from AgustaWestland and Eurocopter for its maritime patrol and search and rescue requirements.
Sources in Malaysia say the agency, which started operating late in 2005, initially plans to acquire three helicopters from each manufacturer. The AW139 is believed to have been selected from AgustaWestland and the AS365 Dauphin from Eurocopter.
A government source says MMEA hopes to complete the induction of the six helicopters within 36 months of contract completion.
Source: Flight International
