With only one helicopter available Sky Shuttle had to cut its flights between Hong Kong and Macau to one every hour instead of two and suspend its services between the MSAR and Shenzhen, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.
The order calls for an inspection of the tail rotor blades of all AgustaWestland (AW) 139 helicopters, the same part that caused an emergency landing in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour in July 2010.
Sky Shuttle operates exclusively with an AW139 fleet.
The order was issued on August 25 and calls for the inspection to be carried out “within 25 flight hours”. It also imposes a shorter life limit of 600 flight hours on tail rotor blades, which forces Sky Shuttle to replace this part on four of its helicopters.
“According to the local aviation laws and regulations, the air operators must carry out the Airworthiness Directives issued by the state of manufacturer,” the MSAR aviation regulator told Macau Daily Times.
As the manufacturer is based in Italy the safety operation is under the supervision of the European Aviation Safety Agency, the Civil Aviation Authority of Macau (AACM) explained.
The aviation regulators in US, Canada and Australia later adopted this directive, causing a global shortage of spare parts for AW139s.
The Irish Air Corps and Queensland Emergency Units have grounded their entire fleet of AW139s. Only one of six AW139s run by Irish Air Corps has been allowed to fly again, the Independent reported.
Spain-based INAER has also suspended all their flights starting August 25, says daily Ceuta Al Día.
One Sky Shuttle helicopter could be ready to resume operations this weekend, a Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department (CAD) official told SCMP.
Nine deaths
On August 29 an AW139 crashed into the sea near Rio de Janeiro killing two crewmembers and two passengers.
“While the investigation is ongoing and waiting for additional information/analysis, as a precautionary measure this Bollettino prescribes inspection and quarantine of the tail rotor blades,” Italy-based manufacturer Agusta Westland wrote.
“In the meantime collection of all necessary evidence is going on in order to isolate the root cause and determine the final corrective actions,” AW added.
According to SCMP five accidents involving AW139s worldwide have been reported so far this year, killing nine people.
In February a South Korean Coast Guard helicopter crashed into the sea leaving one female officer dead. In May a tail rotor gearbox came off a Gulf Helicopter AW139 while on the ground in Doha.
A month later the entire tail section of Weststar AW139 detached while landing in Kuala Lumpur. In August four people died when a Beijing police AW139 fell during a training flight.
On July 2010 a Sky Shuttle ditched at sea near Victoria Harbour. All 13 people on board, including two male aircraft crew members and 11 passengers were plucked to safety with no serious injuries.
A preliminary report released by the CAD that same month said the direct cause for the helicopter losing control seconds after it took off was a tail rotor failure.
The full investigation “is expected to take more than one year to complete,” CAD said at the time.
“As the emergency landing accident took place in Hong Kong airspace, therefore, the investigation is being carried out by HKCAD with the participation of AACM, the territory of registry of the aircraft,” AACM told MDTimes.
CAD has “sent some wreckage to a research and development company in UK last September for analysis,” the regulator added. “The accident investigation work is on-going to determine the causes relating to the accident.”<
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