Safety changes were recommended for Sikorsky S-92A helicopters after one crashed five years ago off Canada’s Atlantic shore killing 17 of the 18 people aboard. The widow of one of the victims is frustrated that those changes have not been carried out.
Cougar Flight 491 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on its way to an oil production platform in May 2009 because of an oil leak in the gear box. After investigating, Canada’s Transportation Safety Board recommended in 2011 that the helicopters be modified so they could fly for half an hour without oil.
Instead, they have been modified so that oil won’t leak to begin with. That’s not good enough for Lori Chynn of Deer Lake, Newfoundland who lost her husband John Pelley in the accident. She told the Globe and Mail newspaper, “ I won’t be happy until the…retrofit.”
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