Due to lack of S92 Helicopters DNO plans to use the Super Puma L1 – Airbus AS332L1 helicopter when the Invincible is operating at the Falstaff field in August and September this year. A presentation was prepared by DNO in collaboration with CHC, the owners and operators of the helicopters. (Transocean will also have crew changes using the Super Puma L1) Before distributing the presentation package to the crews, the unions were given the opportunity to review it and ask questions.

I have a personal history with these helicopters, with friends and colleagues on the L2 that crashed in 2009. It’s important to note that the pilots have a high level of confidence in the L1 chopper and would not fly anything they didn’t trust. The previous accidents involved the L2 and the EC225, both part of the Super Puma family.

Several positive points were raised by others, and we fully support ensuring everyone’s concerns are addressed and providing maximum support for these flights. However, our primary concern was the technical aspects, particularly the changes related to the magnetic pickups on the gearbox oil. Since there is no cockpit indicator, log files must be downloaded weekly. If any issues are detected, daily downloads are required for a week, and if no further problems are found, monitoring stops. This procedure was in place in 2009, just a week before the helicopter crashed. We wanted to know if there had been any procedural updates since then. We had a productive discussion, and they agreed to obtain the exact procedures and include an additional slide in the presentation to address this issue.

Another concern was seating, specifically the inside seats, given the Shetland ditching incident in 2013, where the four fatalities were in the inside seats. Fortunately, due to the length of the flight, we will be restricted to 10-12 persons, ensuring that no one has to sit in these seats.

We await further clarifications and the new slide