Air-worthiness reports for the helicopter involved in the 2009 North Sea Super Puma disaster do not have to be disclosed, the sheriff overseeing the fatal accident inquiry has ruled.
Tom Marshall, lawyer for 13 of the 16 bereaved families, requested the information as Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) bosses gave evidence in Aberdeen yesterday.
But Sheriff Principal Derek Pyle turned him down, saying the CAA was sufficiently satisfied with the operational performance of helicopter firm Bond before and after the catastrophe to allow it to keep flying aircraft.
On hearing Mr Marshall claim he was having to question the CAA witnesses “blind” without key information about Bond, Sheriff Pyle said it should be enough to ask the aviation regulator’s representatives if they had any concerns.
“Presumably, Bond have nothing to hide,” he added.
CAA flight operations chief Bob Jones and air-worthiness boss John McColl both confirmed there was never any reason to suspend Bond’s operating licence.
But a CAA inspection report about a year before the accident revealed weaknesses in Bond’s operations.
A pilot was suspended because his flying licence was not signed in the right place and immersion suits were not serviced according to schedule.
There were also documentation and training issues, but none of these deficiencies was deemed important enough to endanger Bond’s all-important air operator certificate.
Mr Marshall said further details of these “findings” and any others registered by CAA inspectors could shed light on Bond’s maintenance performance.
Counsel representing Bond during the inquiry, Jack Davidson QC, said he had extended a “commendable degree of tolerance” to Mr Marshall over the past few weeks, but the request for itemised records from the CAA was “beyond the pale”.
Mr Davidson said: “In the course of this inquiry I have made several objections as to the scope of Mr Marshall’s questions. “There are several crucial issues that require to be resolved.
“While there may be criticism of certain aspects of the maintenance work carried out by Bond, it would be surprising if any organisation as large was subjected to a fine-tooth comb without it giving rise to some findings.”
The inquiry is investigating the circumstances surrounding Bond Flight 85N on April 1, 2009, when the Super Puma AS332 L2 plunged into the sea on its way back to Aberdeen from BP’s Miller platform.
All 16 people on board were killed in the tragedy.