A FLEET of helicopters grounded after an emergency landing in the North Sea last week are to resume flying but undergo enhanced maintenance checks to ensure their safety.
Bond Offshore Helicopters said its Super Puma aircraft would re-enter service today after it received assurances from Eurocopter, the aircraft manufacturer, although flying time would be restricted to five hours.
Engineers would also be required to analyse on-board vibration sensors between flights in order to pick up on early signs of problems with the main gearbox while work continued to find a "permanent solution" to the aircraft's problems, Bond said.
An interim report published by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch on Sunday said a crack had been found in the gearbox of the EC225 Super Puma helicopter that ditched off the coast of Aberdeen last Thursday, leaving 14 people needing to be rescued from a life raft.
It emerged on Monday night that the Super Puma helicopter that ditched on Thursday had suffered an engine malfunction on its approach to Aberdeen Airport three weeks earlier, but had landed safely.
Bill Munro, Bond's managing director, said yesterday detailed inspections had revealed "no linkages" between the gearbox problems that led to last Thursday's incident and the ditching of another Super Puma in April 2009 in which 16 people were killed.
He said: "As a result of our detailed inspections, we are confident there is no linkage between the gearbox-related incidents that Bond Helicopters have experienced, the causes of which have been proven to be beyond our control."
All nine Super Puma helicopters operated by Bond for its North Sea operations are due to return to service.
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