Aircraft certification discussed at offshore helicopter safety inquiry

Moira Baird, St. John's Telegram
October 26, 2009

A Sikorsky S-92 transport helicopter owned by Cougar Helicopters is seen in St. John's, Newfoundland in this undated handout picture released March 12, 2009. At least one person was killed and 16 were missing in choppy, frigid waters off Canada's Atlantic Coast on Thursday after a similar helicopter crashed while ferrying workers to two offshore oil projects. REUTERS/Cougar Helicopters/Handout (CANADA DISASTER) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

Photo by: Handout

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — A Transport Canada official explained the federal department's role in regulating helicopter travel by offshore workers at the Wells inquiry Monday.

Michael Stephenson, the department's regional director of civil aviation, spent the day fielding questions from inquiry lawyer Anne Fagan.

Transport Canada licenses and certifies the helicopters, pilots, maintenance engineers and dispatch systems used by province's the offshore oil industry.

The inquiry into offshore helicopter safety was created after the March 12 crash of a Sikorsky S-92A off Newfoundland that claimed the lives of 17 of 18 people aboard.

Manufactured in the U.S., the S-92A was certified by that country's Federal Aviation Authority (FAA). It was also certified by Transport Canada.

Stephenson said the federal department received information from the FAA about the certification of the S-92A and continues to do so "to analyze the health of the fleet."

He also said equipment required aboard helicopters travelling offshore, such as survival suits or flotation devices, is governed by the Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs).

Transport Canada doesn't have its own standards for survival suits, and it relies instead on the Canadian General Standards Board to develop the specific standard for those suits.

"What we expect to see on board a helicopter is a suit meeting that standard," he said.

The 1999 standard for survival suits is currently under review by Canadian General Standards Board.

Stephenson also described the dispatch system required for helicopter operations, a self-dispatch system that means the pilot is responsible for checking weather, assessing fuel requirements and filing flight plans.

He said Cougar Helicopters, which transports offshore workers, exceeds those dispatch regulations.

It uses what's known as a co-dispatch system, the same one required of commercial airliners under federal regulations.

"In a co-dispatch system, the company is now relying on more than one individual to compile the information, evaluate the situation and then make a decision to dispatch (the helicopter)," said Stephenson.

Under this system, both the pilot and a dispatcher on the ground must sign off on flight decisions.

Stephenson said he had no first-hand knowledge of Cougar's dispatch system or its approval by Transport Canada.

Stephenson also gave an overview of the Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System (CADORS), a publicly available database maintained by Transport Canada.

It records daily, preliminary reports in the database about aviation occurrences — anything from bird strikes to missed approaches to near-misses.

The data are then analyzed by Transport Canada.

Most CADORS reports are filed by air traffic controllers across the country, which they are required to do under regulations.

"No matter how minor it might be, they simply report it," said Stephenson.

The inquiry resumes Tuesday.

mbaird@thetelegram.com