No need for higher risk of scheduled N. L. offshore night flights: safety inquiry head

ST. JOHN’S, N. L. — There’s no need to schedule night flights to remote oil sites off Newfoundland and workers should be allowed to refuse to take them without penalty, says the former head of an offshore helicopter safety probe.

Robert Wells, a retired provincial Supreme Court judge, led the inquiry after Cougar Flight 491 crashed into the North Atlantic east of St. John’s in 2009, killing 17 of 18 people onboard.

In an interview Friday, he said he doesn’t support a return to scheduled night flights despite recent search and rescue improvements.

“I don’t think they should be regularly scheduled and I don’t think that’s necessary,” Wells said. “I think they should look at the circumstances on the day in question or the night in question and make a decision as to whether or not it’s safe to recommend a flight or to allow a flight.”

The Canada- Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board is considering whether to resume night flights that it restricted in February 2010 as it ordered operators to improve emergency response times and equipment.

Oil companies say they’ve made requested changes and want more flexibility to clear travel backlogs due to bad weather or other factors.

Despite the addition of two fully equipped search and rescue helicopters that can be wheels up from St. John’s in 20 minutes, Wells is against flights after dark or before sunrise.

He stressed that the decision is up to the regulatory board which must weigh the dangers.

“The real question that the CNLOPB has to struggle with is: What is an acceptable risk?”

Wells was clear in his November 2010 inquiry report that he could not support a return to scheduled night flying.

In special cases, he said that a committee representing the regulator, oil operators, workers and the helicopter operator should decide whether to fly after dark.

“If there is a unanimity that the night flight( s) be allowed, a passenger should nevertheless be entitled to refuse to take a night flight without penalty of any kind,” he recommended. “Asking passengers to fly at night adds considerable risk to that part of their work which is already the riskiest.

“Certainly, no person who objects to flying at night should be forced to do so as a condition of employment.”

Wells reaffirmed Friday his support for that right of refusal. His report repeatedly stressed that conditions in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland, especially in winter and spring, are among the harshest in the world.

The inquiry also heard expert testimony from researchers that the survival rate when a helicopter ditches at night falls to about 40 per cent overall. That’s 30- percent lower than in daylight hours.