Gear fatigue fracture "most likely" cause of Airbus helicopter crash in Norway: preliminary report
Xinhua, June 29, 2016 Adjust font size:
The Norwegian Accident Investigation Board (AIBN) said Tuesday in a preliminary report that a fatigue fracture in one of the gears is "most likely" the factor that caused a recent fatal Airbus helicopter crash in western Norway in which all 13 people on board were killed.
"At this stage of the investigation, the AIBN finds that the accident most likely was a result of a fatigue fracture in one of the eight second stage planet gears," the report said.
"It appears that the fracture has propagated in a manner which is unlikely to become detected by existing mandatory or supplementary systems for warning of an imminent failure," it said.
However, what initiated the fracture has not yet been determined, the report said, adding that the report is a preliminary and incomplete representation of AIBN's investigations in connection with the relevant aircraft accident.
The Airbus H225 Super Puma helicopter crashed on April 29 en route from an oil platform in the North Sea operated by Statoil to Bergen, Norway's second largest city, killing 11 oil workers and the two pilots. Endit