In the North Sea, worker unions and the oil and gas industry lobbies have not expressed concerns about the safety of the Sikorsky S-92. Oil & Gas UK declined to comment. “Although we have an eye on international incidents, the remit of our helicopter safety steering group is to focus on UK offshore helicopter travel,” a representative told AIN.

“We can say we have concerns but we must rely on the regulators; we can’t say, ‘We won’t fly on this type because the gearbox is not safe,’ as we have no evidence,” Jake Molloy, who looks after offshore energy matters for the UK’s RMT transport union, told AIN.

Meanwhile, in Norway, the Industri Energy union knows of the issues regarding the S-92 but has not lost confidence in the helicopter. “We trust Sikorsky will make the helicopter safe; we have no more concern than for other helicopters,” said Ketil Karlsen, health, safety and environment manager.