Dear all facility managers,
In the past weeks, there were several incidents that related to aviation operations and we would like to share with you all to raise the awareness of your staffs that support helicopter operations at your facility.
The first incident was about no communication on a landing clearance from HLO which leaded to a go around of a helicopter which was on final approach. It was found out that a handheld radio was not working properly and had not been checked prior to the arrival of the helicopter which later leaded to no communication to pilot on final call. We would recommend all HLOs to check their radios prior to the arrival of the helicopter to ensure the serviceability of the radio.
The second incident was about one of helideck crew member was approaching S-76 from 11 o’clock position which is a restricted zone for S-76. The pilot saw him approaching and told HLO to signal that helideck crew to approach helicopter from a 90 degrees angle to the helicopter. A pre-brief should be done to ensure that all helideck crew members do understand the restricted areas of each helicopter type to avoid any possible near miss or injury from any moving parts of helicopter while having an operation on a helideck. All helideck crews shall be gone through the recommended training organizations and certified prior to performing helideck crew members’ duties.
The third incident was about one helideck crew member damaged the S-76 cargo door which caused the helicopter to be unserviceable and had to wait for maintenance personnel to go offshore to fix the cargo door. It caused a 4-hour delay to use that helicopter as planned especially during the emergency evacuation period. We would recommend all helideck crew members to contact the pilots when in doubt of operating any helicopter parts especially cargo and passenger doors and only certified helideck crew members are to be assigned to work on a helideck.
The fourth incident was about the incorrect information in the flight manifest. We have done several re-weight exercises at NST and found out that some of the flight manifests from offshore facilities did not match with the actual number of bags/cargoes and a total weight. There was one case that we found the total weight was around 125 pounds above from what mentioned in a flight manifest and several cases that both total weight and number of bags/cargoes are different. This is a serious issue as a flight manifest is considered as a legal document and is subjected to be audited by Thailand Department of Civil Aviation Authority where a fine and/or penalty are to be applied. It is also considered jeopardize the flight safety as the maximum takeoff or landing weight may be above the limitation of a helicopter design. Please help to communicate to and ensure that the personnel who are looking after the preparation of flight manifest is putting the actual number of total weight and actual number of bags and cargoes in the flight manifest.
We do look forward to your support on the above recommendations to avoid any repetitive incident. I have also attached the TSP-42 Helicopter Landing Officers and Crew Members for your reference and please help to pass it to your helideck crew members.
Any further information needed please do not hesitate to contact me or our aviation team.