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Norway helicopter crash: 'Technical error to blame' | Norway helicopter crash: 'Technical error to blame' |
(35 minutes later) | |
A technical error was almost certainly behind the helicopter crash in which 13 people died on Friday, Norway's Accident Investigation Board says. | A technical error was almost certainly behind the helicopter crash in which 13 people died on Friday, Norway's Accident Investigation Board says. |
"On the basis of the facts we have, this involves a technical fault; it isn't human error," the director of the board's aviation department said. | "On the basis of the facts we have, this involves a technical fault; it isn't human error," the director of the board's aviation department said. |
The Airbus H225 Super Puma crashed in the North Sea after picking up passengers from an oil platform. | |
Thirteen people died - 11 Norwegians, a Briton and an Italian. | |
Some of the victims' families have chosen not to identify them publicly. The Briton has been named as Iain Stuart, from Laurencekirk in Aberdeenshire.. | |
Footage of the crash showed the helicopter's rotor detached from the body of the aircraft and spinning through the air. | |
Airbus H225 Super Puma | |
Source: Airbus Helicopters | |
On Tuesday the aviation director of Norway's Accident Investigation Board, Kaare Halvorsen told reporters that they were "as certain as they can be" that a technical problem caused the crash, rather than human error. | |
Mr Halvorsen confirmed that the crew had no time to send an emergency message before the crash. | |
He told Norway's VG website that there had been less than one second between the fault appearing and the helicopter's flight recorder coming to a halt. The recorder is thought to have stopped working when the rotor became detached. | |
But he stressed that the investigation was at an early stage and no conclusions could yet be drawn. | |
The Super Pumas remain grounded in both Norway and the UK, though their manufacturer, Airbus, said on Monday that it was no longer recommending a blanket ban on their use. |