Description

Description On 27 December 2006, the crew of an SA-365 Dauphin 2 being operated by CHC Scotia on a contract passenger flight from the Millom West platform to the North Morecambe platform and making a night visual approach at destination crashed into the sea from a low altitude within sight of the platform. The aircraft was destroyed by the impact and none of the seven occupants survived.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the UK AAIB. The Combined Voice and Flight Data Recorder (CVFDR) was eventually located and recovered on 16 January 2007. Most of the data from it, which consisted of five hours of flight data derived from the Integrated Health & Usage Monitoring System (IHUMS) and one hour of 3-channel audio, was successfully extracted. However, the magnetic tape recording medium had been exposed to corrosive sea water and it was found that the resultant corrosion had been particularly aggressive where the tape had been in contact with the metal tape heads and so that "in a number of small areas near the end of the tape the data and audio recordings were lost". Other IHUMS data from accelerometers which monitored the operation of rotating components was stored separately from the CVFDR in a Maintenance Data Recorder (MDR) for analysis to detect excessive vibration. However, the MDR was not recovered from the sea after the accident although the operator was able to provide IHUMS data which had already been downloaded from the helicopter. All significant items of wreckage were eventually located and recovered to assist the Investigation.