Norway’s Civil Aviation Authority has extended its ban on the use of Airbus H225 Super Puma Helicopters in Norway to include search and rescue missions, the agency said in a statement on Thursday.
The ban, which also includes an older version of the aircraft, follows the discovery of metal fatigue in the gear box of a Super Puma helicopter that crashed in Norway on April 29, killing all 13 people on board.
The Super Pumas, a workhorse of the oil industry, were banned from commercial traffic in Norway and Britain following the accident, but search and rescue missions had still been allowed.
The findings were published in a preliminary report by Accident Investigation Board Norway (AIBN) on Wednesday, in which the board urged the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to take immediate action to ensure the safety of the helicopter’s main gearbox.
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