Lawsuit claims Sikorsky knew of the S-92 flaws…

Some big news broke this weekend in Canada’s Globe and Mail news paper. A lawsuit has been filed against Sikorsky which essentially says that Sikorsky was aware of the gearbox problems with the S-92 and failed to notify pilots of the issue. This is huge if true.

You can download the statement of claim here.

Here is an excerpt:

Flawed mechanical design and dishonest marketing led to a helicopter crash that killed 17 people off the coast of Newfoundland this winter, according to a lawsuit filed by the families of the victims.

The lawsuit charges that Sikorsky sold its $15-million S-92 as “the safest helicopter in the world,” even though it was aware of a serious problem with the machine’s all-important main gearbox – a component that has emerged as the likely cause of the March 12 crash.

The lawsuit, filed in Pennsylvania, alleges that Sikorsky marketed the S-92 on the basis of its compliance with an advanced safety standard that calls for a helicopter to fly for at least 30 minutes after losing the oil in its main gearbox (also known as “MGB”), giving pilots time to make a safe landing. The lawsuit says that the S-92 did not actually meet the standard, but customers were led to believe that it did, creating a fatal misperception by pilots – including the Cougar Helicopters crew who died in the Newfoundland crash along with 15 passengers…

… The lawsuit argues that the pilots would have attempted a controlled landing on the surface of the ocean almost immediately had they been aware of the S-92’s true capabilities. “Within seconds of being alerted to the rapid loss of oil pressure in the MGB, the pilots turned the aircraft towards a safe landing site, which was close enough to be reached within the purported 30-minute ‘run-dry’ capacity of an S-92 helicopter. Because of the defendants’ misrepresentations and misstatements, the pilots were not aware that complete loss of operational control was imminent, and therefore, they did not attempt to set the craft down immediately on the water while the pilots still maintained control of the helicopter.”

The S-92’s run-dry capabilities have been at the centre of an ongoing dispute within the aviation community. The helicopter was certified to an advanced safety standard known as FAR Part 29, which calls for the extended run-dry time. A Globe and Mail investigation revealed that the S-92 failed the run-dry test, but was certified after Sikorsky showed that the chance of losing gearbox lubrication was “extremely remote.”

Sikorsky has argued that the S-92 meets the standard, and that pilots should have been aware of the need to land immediately in case of an oil leak. But the lawsuit charges that Sikorsky completely misrepresented the gearbox’s durability in a widespread campaign. “In addition to stating in their product literature and technical bulletins that their S-92 helicopters had a ‘30 minute run-dry capacity,’ the defendants knew that aircraft references, including Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft , innocently repeated the defendants’ representations.… Pilots would detrimentally rely on these misstatements, lulling them into a false sense of safety.”

The lawsuit alleges that Sikorsky “trivialized” the risks posed by oil loss, and failed to highlight it in the S-92’s flight manual, even after a series of incidents. (This week, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ordered changes to the S-92’s flight manual, instructing pilots to land immediately if a gearbox oil leak is detected.)

Here is a link to the entire story.

~ by deltatango44 on June 22, 2009.