Air accident report calls for corporate flights review

AIR accident investigation report has called on the European Aviation Safety Agency to carry out an urgent review of the regulation of corporate aviation activity in Europe.

The report says this is the third time in 11 years that the Department of Transport's Air Accident Investigation Unit has raised the absence of regulations covering corporate aviation with the European authorities.

This latest call for a review follows an investigation of an accident last year in which a helicopter crash-landed in Co Offaly after its engine stopped at 1,000 feet when it ran out of fuel.

The pilot received minor injuries but his passenger suffered spinal injuries when the Schweizer 300 helicopter came down at Clonshanny on September 12th.

In his safety recommendations, accident investigator Graham Liddy calls on the European Aviation Safety Agency to review the regulation of corporate aviation activity in Europe "as a matter of urgency".

In 1997, Mr Liddy said, arising from a fatal accident, the Air Accident Investigation Unit had made a recommendation to the Joint Aviation Authority – the forerunner to the European Aviation Safety Agency - about the absence of regulations covering corporate aviation in Europe.

The joint authority did not respond but the British Civil Aviation Authority told the investigation unit in January 2002 that it was a member of a joint authority group that was expected to finalize a revision of regulations at the end of that year.

Following another fatal accident in 2002, the unit repeated the safety recommendation to the joint authority.Last November the European agency wrote to the Irish safety investigators to say that when it took over from the joint authority, it would publish its opinion.

To date, it has published no regulations on the matter, the report says.Mr Liddy also recommends that the Irish authority consider a program aimed at educating helicopter owners and potential owners of the risks and hazards associated with the use of general aviation helicopters for business purposes.

The Schweizer helicopter had been hired from an Enniskillen company, as the passenger's own helicopter was undergoing maintenance.

Mr Liddy said the pilot had only 24 hours' experience as pilot-in-command when he became the owner's personal pilot.

The report found the "fuel contents of the helicopter were not managed appropriately" and that there was a defective bulb holder on the fuel low-contents warning system, as a result of which the system failed to warn the pilot of the critical fuel situation.

Mr Liddy also found the maintenance program failed to meet criteria laid down by the manufacturer, or the requirements of the British Civil Aviation Authority, and an inspection was overdue.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0709/1215537641675.html

Fonte: Flight Safety Information 09/07/2008.