European Aviation Safety Agency
Trevor Woods Director Approvals and Standardisation
Cologne, 04 April 2014TWDD/MVH/S(0) 2014(D)51689
UK HOUSE OF COMMONS
TRANSPORT COMMITTEE
Mrs Louise ElImanChair
Subject: Written evidence submitted by the European Aviation Safety
Agency following the evidence session on 17 March 2014
Dear Mrs ElIman,
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) was pleased to have the opportunity toappear in front of the Committees second evidence session on 17 March 2014.
I have attached additional information that you requested regarding EASAs response tosafety recommendations on the UK offshore operations. This is set out in Annex 1.
Notably, concerning the 2009 G-REDL accident, four EASA Airworthiness Directives(Agency Decisions, mandating certain continuing airworthiness actions) and oneSafety Information Bulletin were issued, together with an internal gearbox collectormodification, all to inspect and to improve conspicuity of gearbox particle early detectionand identification. Concerning 2012 G-REDW and G-CHCN ditching cases (main gearboxlower end shaft failure and emergency lubrication failure), eleven EASA AirworthinessDirectives were issued; concerning the shaft, the following has been implemented:download of vibration health monitoring data and in-flight monitoring of vibration criticalthresholds; shaft non-destructive inspections and cleaning; a currently ongoing redesignof an improved shaft; five modifications affecting the emergency lubrication system; andfour ancillary other modifications.
Taking account of the operational conditions and specificities of offshore operations in theNorth Sea, EASA, together with the Member States and industry, has developed anumber of rulemaking tasks, some of which also directly relate to the safetyrecommendations listed in Annex 1. Annex 2 provides you with an overview of thedifferent rulemaking initiatives in this area and their expected timeline. In fact,the UK CAA is the largest and a very active contributor to the EU-EASA rulemakingteams.
Member States are an integral contributor and part of the European aviation safetysystem for which we have a very cooperative and productive working relationship.This is enabled by the EU Regulations in place assigning specific competences to theNational Aviation Authorities, to EASA and the Commission. I have provided you with anoverview of this system in Annex 3 describing the roles in more detail and thereby the
Tel.: +49 (0) 221 89990 6000 Fax: +49 (0) 221 89990 6500 [email protected]
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way the European system works towards a high and uniform level of safety acrossEurope including offshore operations.
Finally, I would like to assure you that the recent recommendations contained inthe UK CAA helicopter offshore report are currently being assessed by EASA in exactlythe same way as any recommendation addressed to the Agency by an official accidentinvestigation board. Our initial response to them will be provided this week.
With this information I am confident that the EU Safety Framework encompassesoffshore helicopter safety issues, and as a result will benefit not only the safety of the UKfleet but also those of other Member States with offshore operations.
Yours sincerely,
Trevor Woods
Annex 1 EASA Response to UK offshore helicopter Safety RecommendationsAnnex 2 Rulemaking initiatives in the domain of offshore helicopter operationsAnnex 3 Civil Aviation Safety in Europe and the role of EASA
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