Call to ground Puma fleet
UNION leaders have called for the entire Super Puma fleet to be grounded until the cause of the Shetland crash is identified.
Friday night’s crash is the fifth major incident involving the Super Puma make of helicopter in the space of four years and union chiefs claim this is “unacceptable”.
Helicopter operator CHC yesterday grounded all of its Super Puma L2 — the same model which plunged into waters off the coast of Peterhead in April 2009 with the loss of 16 lives — in the wake of the crash.
But unions want all models of Super Puma grounded until the cause of the accident is found.
They said they would support any worker who refused to board a helicopter if they felt the aircraft was unsafe.
Their calls came after a petition to the Scottish Parliament to stop using Super Pumas in the North Sea was launched.
They also followed an admission from Keith Conradi, the government’s chief inspector of air accidents, that an inquiry into the disaster could last “a year or more”.
Bob Crow, general secretary of offshore union RMT, said he expected an “outpouring of anger” in response to the latest incident.
“Workforce confidence in the Super Puma type aircraft was severely dented after the two ditching events of last year and the fatal accident in 2009,” he said.
“RMT and Unite have worked with all sectors of the industry to address the concerns of our members and rebuild that confidence. This event has undone all of that work.
“The entire Super Puma fleet must remain grounded until the causes of this latest event are established.
“We will support any member who refuses to board any suspect aircraft type in light of this disaster.”
Super Puma EC 225s — a different model to the one which crashed on Friday — had been grounded for several months after last October’s ditching, but were given the go- ahead to resume flying earlier this month.
Pat Rafferty, of Unite, said the number of incidents involving the helicopters in recent years was “unacceptable”.
Politicians yesterday said their thoughts were with the family and friends of those who lost their lives and were injured in the crash.
First Minister Alex Salmond said: “Our thoughts at this difficult time are with the families, friends and colleagues of those who lost their lives in this tragic incident.
“It is still too early to know what caused this terrible tragedy, but a full investigation by the relevant authorities is already under way.”