Chinelo Obogo
The management of Bristow Helicopters has said it is cooperating with t relevant government agencies to investigate the serious incident involving one of its aircraft on Friday, October 25, 2019.
The management confirmed in a statement made available to Daily Sun that there was an incident involving one if its helicopters which was inbound to land at the Port Harcourt Air Force Base from an offshore location with 11 passengers on board. It said it followed established aircraft procedure to reduce the engine to idle power during the flight as a precautionary measure following a warning in the cockpit.
“On October 25 2019 a Bristow crew followed established aircraft procedure (in line with Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority-approved Operations Manual Part B Checklist) to reduce an engine to idle power on an S-92 during flight as a precautionary measure following a warning in the cockpit.
“The aircraft was inbound to land at the Port Harcourt Nigerian Air Force Base from an offshore location with 11 passengers on board. The incident occurred in the Port Harcourt Control Zone with approximately 4 nautical miles (nm) to land. The aircraft landed safely and taxied to the hangar without incident. Bristow is working with the respective authorities leading the investigation into the incident,” the statement read.
Daily Sun reported yesterday that a Bristow aircraft operating an offshore flight developed engine failure before it landed at the Port Harcourt Airport on Friday, October 25, 2019. No life was lost and no passenger or crew member was injured as the aircraft landed safely.
The General Manager, Public Affairs of the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) Tunji Oketunbi, in a statement confirmed that there was a serious incident involving the aircraft but said the agency has commenced investigation.
“We dispatched our investigators to the site immediately. The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) have been retrieved. It is a serious incident since they declared an emergency. We have commenced investigation,” Oketunbi said.