John
04-11-2009, 06:10 AM
The report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) found the failure caused the helicopter's main rotor to break away from the aircraft, and its tail boom to become severed from the fuselage.
There was also a rupture in the helicopter's right-hand engine casing, accident investigators said.
The report said: "Examination of the wreckage indicates that the accident occurred following a catastrophic failure of the main rotor gearbox."
It added that the failure of the gearbox was not yet fully understood.
The Super Puma helicopter carrying 14 passengers and two crew crashed into the North Sea on April 1 as it was returning to the mainland from a BP oilfield off the northeast coast of Scotland.
The AAIB recommended that the helicopter's manufacturer Eurocopter should urgently carry out "additional inspections" on other Super Pumas, one of the helicopters most commonly used to ferry staff to oil rigs in the North Sea.
There was also a rupture in the helicopter's right-hand engine casing, accident investigators said.
The report said: "Examination of the wreckage indicates that the accident occurred following a catastrophic failure of the main rotor gearbox."
It added that the failure of the gearbox was not yet fully understood.
The Super Puma helicopter carrying 14 passengers and two crew crashed into the North Sea on April 1 as it was returning to the mainland from a BP oilfield off the northeast coast of Scotland.
The AAIB recommended that the helicopter's manufacturer Eurocopter should urgently carry out "additional inspections" on other Super Pumas, one of the helicopters most commonly used to ferry staff to oil rigs in the North Sea.