Cites Failure To Deploy Raft As Causal To December 2007 Fatality

The National Transportation Safety Board issued two new recommendations Monday, aimed at improving passenger awareness of how to properly deploy the emergency life rafts commonly seen on the exteriors of turbine-powered helicopters operating offshore.

The Board cites the December 29, 2007 downing of an Air Logistics Bell 206L1 helicopter. The helicopter impacted water while approaching South Pass Block 38 (SP38), an offshore platform in the Gulf of Mexico, with a commercial pilot and three passengers aboard.

All four occupants survived the crash, but one passenger died while awaiting rescue... a condition the NTSB attributes to the pilot's failure to properly instruct the passengers on how to deploy the life raft.

"During a postaccident interview, the accident pilot provided no indication why he did not deploy the external life raft using the internal T-handle when the helicopter entered the water, even though he had received training on external liferaft deployments," the Board writes. "The pilot stated that, after evacuating the helicopter, he climbed onto its belly and asked the passengers to pull the 'red handle' (that is, one of the external T-handles) for the life raft but that the passengers could not locate either T-handle.

"One of the surviving passengers stated that he thought the pilot was referring to the red inflation tabs on their PFDs. Both surviving passengers stated that they did not know that the helicopter was equipped with external life raft with external activation handles," the NTSB adds.

The NTSB has recommended that the FAA:

• Require operators of turbine-powered helicopters with externally mounted life raft to install a placard for each external T-handle that clearly identifies the location of and provides activation instructions for the handle. (A-08-83)
• Require all operators of turbine-powered helicopters to include, in pilot preflight safety briefings to passengers before each takeoff, information about the location and activation of all flotation equipment, including internal or external life raft (depending on which system has been installed on the helicopter). (A-08-84)

"The Safety Board concludes that external placards for the two external liferaft T-handles, similar to the placard for the T-handle in the cockpit, would assist passengers in finding and activating the external T-handles, especially if the pilot were unable to do so," the NTSB concludes. "Therefore, the Safety Board believes that the FAA should require operators of turbine-powered helicopters with externally mounted life raft to install a placard for each external T-handle that clearly identifies the location of and provides activation instructions for the handle."

FMI: Read The Full Recommendation (.pdf.)