In the continuing aftermath of the accidents that befell North Sea oil-and-gas helicopter transport services between 2009 and 2013, operators Avincis, Bristow, CHC, Era and PHI have created HeliOffshore, an association that seeks to improve global safety standards through pan-industry cooperation. Membership is open to all with stakes in offshore helicopter transport, including customers of helicopter services; aircraft and equipment manufacturers; staff and passenger organizations; and government and research institutions.

“We want to deliver real safety benefits for the people who depend on the industry to get to and from their offshore workplaces, the crews who fly the helicopters and the teams who maintain them,” HeliOffshore CEO Gretchen Haskins said. The organization has identified six priority areas: automation; situational awareness; stabilized approaches; accident survivability; helicopter health and usage monitoring systems; and information exchange.

“We do not want to know something in one part of the world that may have prevented an accident elsewhere,” Haskins told AIN. Bristow CEO Jonathan Baliff recently revealed that his company could have shared useful simulator experience before the fatal Sumburgh, UK ditching last year, concluding that competing on safety is a “concept of the past.”