Offshore union call for public inquiry into impact of commercial pressures on helicopter industry
It follows the publication of a fatal accident inquiry into the Sumburgh helicopter tragedy.
Offshore Union RMT have called for a full public inquiry into the commercial pressures on the helicopter industry and the impact they have.
It follow the fatal accident inquiry into the Sumburgh tragedy, which claimed four lives.
A Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) found that all the safety barriers in place did not manage to prevent or remedy the pilot's one failure'' to maintain the correct speed as it approached Sumburgh Airport in Shetland.
Two crew members and 12 passengers on the Super Puma L2 survived when it ditched on its approach to the airport at 6.17pm on August 23 2013.
But Sarah Darnley, 45, from Elgin, Moray; Gary McCrossan, 59, from Inverness; Duncan Munro, 46, from Bishop Auckland, County Durham, and George Allison, 57, from Winchester, Hampshire, died.
Survivor Samuel Bull took his own life in London in 2017, which Sheriff Principal Pyle said was directly caused'' by the crash.
General Secretary Mick Cash said;
"RMT is disappointed that the FAI predictably kept the scope of the inquiry very narrow, looking at the events at the precise moment of the tragedy. There was no consideration of the wider aspects of what led to the tragedy and the loss of four lives, including RMT member Sarah Darnley.
"The fact remains that the tragedy would have been avoided if the safety systems in the helicopter had been enabled. Those systems were inhibited because the pilots hadn’t been trained how to use them.
" The fact the safety systems were fitted in the aircraft tell us the risks of such an event occurring were apparent to the helicopter manufacturer. The fact the pilots weren’t trained to use the safety systems tells us that commercial pressures were a factor in a tragedy which was completely avoidable.
" RMT continues to call for a full public inquiry into the impact of commercial pressures on the helicopter industry in line with the findings of the Transport Select Committee findings in 2014, which looked at the Sumburgh accident.'