Oil and Gas People has been sent further images of the damaged H175 helicopter that resulted in North Sea operators grounding all similar aircraft. Babcock, CHC and NHV who fly the H175 acted to ground them despite Airbus only advising on a flight speed restriction.

This statement was issued by Airbus yesterday:

“Airbus Helicopters confirms it has issued a service bulletin to H175 operators calling for a temporary reduction of the maximum allowable speed of the helicopter.”

“This follows the detection of a structural damage during routine inspections of the horizontal stabilizer on a customer helicopter.”

“This initial service bulletin will be followed shortly by another one calling for fleet-wide inspections of the affected part. As is standard practice, these precautionary measures will be followed up by EASA-mandated airworthiness directives. We are in direct contact with our customers to minimise the impact on their operations.”

The images show significant damage and Oil and Gas People would like to congratulate the operators for taking the decission to ground the helicopters despite Airbus only issuing a speed restriction.