"Any confidence built up since 2016 amongst offshore workers over the safety of the helicopters will disappear."
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RMT, the UK’s National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers, went on record this week in opposition to the potential reintroduction of the Airbus Helicopters Super Puma to service the offshore energy market in the North Sea. Operators withdrew the aircraft from that market after 33 offshore workers were killed as the result of a series of Super Puma accidents in the region between 2009 and 2016, several of them tied to flaws in the main gearbox (MGB).
Airbus subsequently redesigned the MGB and made other improvements to the model, including increased payload and offering an automatic rig approach mode to its avionics package. Earlier this week, a senior Airbus Helicopters executive told AIN that the company planned to continue producing the Super Puma into the 2040s and that the improved helicopter was ideally suited to serve the deep water offshore market. Speculation that the Super Puma would return to North Sea duty is being fueled by concerns about aging Sikorsky S-92s currently serving there.
"The possible reintroduction of the Super Puma would poison industrial relations,” said Mick Lynch, RMT general secretary. "Any confidence built up since 2016 amongst offshore workers over the safety of the helicopters will disappear if they are expected to travel to and from installations on Super Pumas,” adding that even the consideration of using the helicopter there again was “an insult to the memory of offshore workers and crew killed by this flawed machine.” However, he did admit, "The S-92 model, which has assumed the bulk of the Super Puma work, is aging, and investment [in new helicopters] is desperately needed.”
Union Balks at Bringing Super Pumas Back to North Sea
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RMT, the UK’s National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers, went on record this week in opposition to the potential reintroduction of the Airbus Helicopters Super Puma to service the offshore energy market in the North Sea. Operators withdrew the aircraft from that market after 33 offshore workers were killed as the result of a series of Super Puma accidents in the region between 2009 and 2016, several of them tied to flaws in the main gearbox (MGB).
Airbus subsequently redesigned the MGB and made other improvements to the model, including increased payload and offering an automatic rig approach mode to its avionics package. Earlier this week, a senior Airbus Helicopters executive told AIN that the company planned to continue producing the Super Puma into the 2040s and that the improved helicopter was ideally suited to serve the deep water offshore market. Speculation that the Super Puma would return to North Sea duty is being fueled by concerns about aging Sikorsky S-92s currently serving there.
"The possible reintroduction of the Super Puma would poison industrial relations,” said Mick Lynch, RMT general secretary. "Any confidence built up since 2016 amongst offshore workers over the safety of the helicopters will disappear if they are expected to travel to and from installations on Super Pumas.”