Safety Group Ends Grounding Of North Sea Super Pumas

RNLI crews recovering wreckage of a helicopter that crashed off the coast of the Shetland Islands in Scotland on August 24, 2013. Photo Credit: RNLI

LONDON, Aug 29 (Reuters) – A British helicopter safety group on Thursday ended a six-day suspension on all flights by Super Puma helicopters in the North Sea, imposed after four oil rig contractors were killed in a crash last week.

After a two-day meeting, the Helicopter Safety Steering Group (HSSG) said its decision was based on the confidence in the helicopters expressed by European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the pilots’ union BALPA, the Norwegian CAA and the helicopter operators themselves.

“There is no evidence to support a continuation of the temporary suspension of the entire Super Puma fleet,” said spokesman Les Linklater in a statement. Super Puma helicopters are manufactured by Eurocopter, a unit of Europe’s top aerospace group EADS.

© 2013 Thomson Reuters.