CAP 763

CAP 763 Aviation Safety Review 2005
UK Public Transport - Helicopters
4.6.4 The number of accidents does not necessarily provide the best measure of safety.
Later in this section, the reportable accidents will be shown as a rate, which provides
a more accurate picture as to the relative safety of different classes of aircraft.
4.7 Fatal accidents
4.7.1 In total, for all public transport helicopter operations between 1995 and 2004, there
have been four fatal accidents resulting in 20 fatalities. Details of the four fatal
accidents are shown below, broken down by the type of operation they involve.
4.7.2 Between 1995 and 2004 offshore operations have been involved in one fatal accident
resulting in 11 fatalities. Details of this accident are shown in Table 4.17.
Date
Aircraft type
Location of
accident
Type of
operation
Description of accident
People on
board
Fatal
injuries
16 Jul
2002
Sikorsky S76
North Sea, off
Norfolk
Passenger
Crashed into sea and was destroyed
following failure of main rotor blade
11 11
Table 4.17 Details of offshore fatal accidents
4.7.3 Between 1995 and 2004 emergency services operations have been involved in two
fatal accidents resulting in four fatalities. Details of the accidents are shown inTable
4.18.
Date
Aircraft type
Location of
accident
Type of
operation
Description of accident
People on
board
Fatal
injuries
26 Jul
1998
AS355 Twin
Squirrel
Rochester, Kent Ambulance Struck overhead power cables and
crashed into field
3 3
09 Oct
1998
AS355 Twin
Squirrel
Welford,
Northants.
Police
Entered fog and crashed into
woodland shortly after take-off
3 1
Table 4.18
Details of emergency services fatal accidents
4.7.4 Between 1995 and 2004 'other' public transport operations have been involved in one
fatal accident resulting in five fatalities. Details of this accident is shown in Table 4.19
Date
Aircraft type
Location of
accident
Type of
operation
Description of accident
People on
board
Fatal
injuries
22 Oct
1996
AS355 Twin
Squirrel
Middlewich, Ches Passenger Crashed into farmland following
disorientation at night
5 5
Table 4.19
Details of 'other' fatal accidents
4.8 Utilisation data
4.8.1 Between 1995 and 2004, UK operators (airlines and air taxi operations) have
completed 2.6 million flights and flown 1.3 million hours on all revenue operations
involving helicopters. The annual breakdown of these figures is shown in Table 4.20.
8 August 2006
Chapter 4 Page 17