Third Eurocopter emergency AD in two months

Eurocopter has been hit by the third emergency AD issued by the EASA in the last two months, all unrelated. This one comes after an AS332 Super Puma landed on an oil rig and began rolling towards the edge of the deck. The crew received an alarm after lowering the main landing gear, that the left side hydraulic system was low. Upon landing the crew applied the brakes, unaware that the braking was affected.

An emergency airworthiness directive for several Eurocopter types has been issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency after an AS332 Super Puma helicopter suffered brake failure when landing on the helideck of a North Sea offshore oil rig, and "started to roll toward the edge of deck", the agency reported.

There have now been three EASA emergency ADs in the last two months relating to Eurocopter helicopters, but they are unrelated to each other.

www.flightglobal.com...

reply to post by Zaphod58

not to discourage your enthusiasm with aviation, but I am an Air Traffic Controller, and I have controlled at airports that have had at least 4 Es a week... though my current airport maybe sees 10 a year.

Point is they happen more than 10 times a day throughout the US, and 100 times a day world wide.

reply to post by exTAC


I know. I used to be on a flightline for years, so I heard the announcements every time one came in. But you don't normally see Airworthiness Directives handed out after an IFE. I've seen some manufacturers go years without a single AD, or with one or two in as many years. To see one get hit with three in two months can be a bad sign. An IFE is one thing, but an AD is a different animal.

reply to post by Zaphod58

that is very true. Though, I have never seen an E with the flight of Duaphins I'm currently with, or Pumas I have been with in the past... But, as I'm sure you know, doesn't mean **** in realtime, day-to-day operations

reply to post by exTAC


You're lucky to have such reliable airframes. We lost one HH-53 and crew during a rescue mission in the mid 80s, other than that every IFE we had was something stupid, or CND. The worst I saw was a transit C-135 returning with a fire warning light, and actually had a fire, due to a hydraulic pump failure that leaked into the engine.