OSLO, June 10 (Reuters) - A CHC-operated Sikorsky S-92helicopter with 16 people onboard was forced to make anunscheduled landing on an oil platform off Norway on Friday, arescue official said.
The incident comes just over a month after an Airbus H225 Super Puma helicopter operated by the same companycrashed, killing all 13 people on board as the main rotor bladesseparated from the aircraft.
Norway's Civil Aviation Authority banned the use of the H225in Norway after preliminary findings of an investigation showeda possible safety issue with the model's gearbox.
The Sikorsky S-92 took off from the Maersk Gallant drillingrig operated by France's Total at around 0720 GMT onFriday and had to land on the Ula platform 43 kilometres away at0752 GMT after a cockpit indicator showed low oil pressure inits gearbox.
A spokesman at the rescue coordination centre for southernNorway said it was "a precautionary landing", with pilotsnotifying the centre about the need to land at 0744 GMT.
"They have never sent a mayday signal, but you can't flywith low oil pressure. You have to land as soon as possible, andif there is no platform or deck around, you have to land on thesea," the spokesman said.
Leif Harald Halvorsen, a spokesman for Total, said Ula wasthe nearest installation on which the helicopter could land.
"All passengers and the crew are well and taken care of onthe Ula platform," he added.
CHC Helicopter said in an emailed statement the pilots hadrequested a priority landing, following standard procedure afterthe cockpit light illuminated during the flight.
"The aircraft made an uneventful landing and will now bethoroughly inspected by our engineers before returning toservice," it said.
A spokeswoman for CHC in Norway said the company was sendingits technicians to the BP-operated Ula platform, but itwould take time for them to arrive as no other helicopters couldland on the platform and they would have to travel by sea.
"We don't know yet what was the reason of the alarm," shesaid. (Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; Editing by Mark Potter)
BP (BP.)
