News release: C-NLOPB REACTS TO LOSS OF COUGAR FLIGHT 491

The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB), issued the following statement in relation to the loss of Cougar’s Flight 491 and its fifteen passengers and two crew on route from St. John’s to the Hibernia Platform and the Sea Rose FPSO.

The C-NLOPB Board and staff wish to express deepest sympathies to the families, friends and co-workers of the passengers and crew aboard Cougar’s Flight 491. This tragedy affects all who work in the offshore oil and gas sector and all of us as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. Our hearts and prayers go out to them.

The C-NLOPB has been working very closely with responding agencies since the incident occurred and monitoring search and rescue efforts. The ditching of Cougar’s Flight 491 is an air accident and the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are the lead agencies in the investigation of this incident. The C-NLOPB will fully cooperate with these agencies in the investigation.

The C-NLOPB will also be an observer during the recovery operation. If there are lessons to be learned from this event for the C-NLOPB, we will ensure those lessons are implemented. T

he C-NLOPB has regulatory responsibility for safety on oil and gas facilities operating in the Newfoundland and Labrador offshore area. The C-NLOPB verifies that operators have appropriate safety plans in place. The guidelines for the development of the Safety Plan are on the Board’s website .

The basic safety requirements for working on an offshore oil and gas facility include:

• Successful completion of a medical exam

• Completion of a basic offshore survival course

• Personnel must use certified personal protective equipment and apparel when working offshore

• Also, personnel are provided with a flight suit which must be worn during transport.

The C-NLOPB is committed to overseeing offshore oil and gas activities to verify that safety is the first priority in offshore operations.

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S-92 crash links

For those looking to keep track of the reporting on this story, here are the two best local sources:

1.  CBC Newfoundland and Labrador

• Raw video
• Comprehensive web page, including links to raw video, others news coverage, a live feed of the news conferences associated with the incident and a live online forum.

2.  The Telegram: the province’s largest daily newspaper has been updating regularly with short snippets in the daily news section [rss link]. They also have some of their “Top Story” coverage available as well online [rss link].  There is also some coverage in the “Local News” section [rss link]

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Bullshit

Williams has been in contact with the Prime Minister and the province's federal representative Peter MacKay keeping them up to date on what's happening on the ground.

Extract from a voice of the cabinet minister “news” report

The search and rescue resources from Greenwood, Nova Scotia and Gander, Newfoundland currently deployed in response to the Cougar S-92 crash are from the Department of National Defence.

The Minister of National Defence is Peter MacKay.

He receives a daily briefing from the Canadian Forces on these sorts of things and can be briefed more often as necessary from people in direct contact with the pilots in the planes.  Heck, Pete can speak to them himself from his desk as they fly above the ocean if he wants.

The coast guard, transport department and all the other entirely federal agencies working on this tragedy report to – wait for it – the federal government.

The defence minister and the prime minister have access to detailed information on this incident in far greater detail and in a far broader scope than just about anyone else.

So what exactly did the Premier have to say that would keep the people with all the information first hand “up to date” with what’s happening on the ground?

Maybe the reporter(s) curious about the water depth at 47 26 05N 51 56 58W might add that to their list of questions to pose. Either that or someone could ask VOCM to check their understanding again of what the Premier actually said.

Either way, one of them is full of it.

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Upright in a hurricane

This is raw video of what appears to be a sales demonstration of the S-92 for a Hungarian audience. This one is in military configuration, hence the H-92 reference.

At about the 2:41 mark, there is reference to flotation equipment on the aircraft both at the tail and the nose which is designed to keep the aircraft upright in a ditching.  The pilot (?) makes a comment about keeping the aircraft upright even in a hurricane.

The internal configuration for this aircraft is for military use.  Hence the demonstration refers to a crew of four and emphasises the ease with which the internal arrangement can be switched out to accommodate a purely cargo mission.

The civilian passenger configuration provides 19 seats in rows of three, set up with two on one side and one on the other. Passengers face forward, whereas in this military configuration, anyone in the main cabin sits with his or her back to the fuselage wall.

Reported weather conditions at the site at the time of crash were  two to three metre seas and winds at 20 knots.

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Gearbox oil pressure implicated in S-92 crash

Cougar official Rick Burt, interviewed by CBC Radio the morning after the crash, indicated the aircraft commander declared a MAYDAY after getting a gauge indication of  “zero oil pressure” in the main gearbox.

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Related:

1.  CADOR excerpt on CHI91 incident.

2.  Previous S-92 airworthiness directives involving the main gearbox and oil pressure issues.

CADORS 2009A0212

From the Transport Canada’s incident report on the Cougar S-92 crash:

CHI91, S92, enroute from St. John’s (CYYT) to the Hibernia Oil Platform at 12:15Z, declared MAYDAY due to a main gear box oil pressure problem and requested to return to St. John’s. Air Traffic Control cleared the flight as requested. At 12:25Z aircraft ditched at position 472605N515658W.

The time reported here for the MAYDAY is 0945 hrs local, not 0910 hrs as reported in an evening media briefing. The ditching time is given as 0955 hrs local.

This is an initial report and may be subject to change.

Timeshift update:  The ZULU times are apparently correct.  Initial reports came from the SAR co-ordination centre based in Halifax which initially converted ZULU to Atlantic time out of habit.

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Sikorsky S-92

1.  Australia:  Airworthiness directive AD/S-92/4 dated 2/2007 re: tail gearbox.

2. Australia: Airworthiness directive AD/S-92/3 dated 2/2007 re: main rotor gearbox. Mandates replacement of main gearbox housing at 2700 hours time-in-service.

3.  Australia: Airworthiness directive AD/S-92/2: “This AD requires replacing the MGB lubrication/scavenge pump vespel spline adapters before further flight, and thereafter, replacing them at certain intervals”.

4.  Sikorsky signs gearbox maintenance deal with VIHAG, Cougar parent.

5.  The S-92 was a candidate to replace the Sea King in the role of Marine Corps presidential helicopter transport.  it lost out to the Merlin/Cormorant under the designation US-101.

6.  The Canadian defence department selected the S-92 to replace the aging Sea King fleet.  The program is behind schedule.

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