Helicopter - S92A MGB fix

But alas, so late.
It should have been there immediately after the forced landing in April 2005. Why so late in carrying out this fix? Remember, the MGB is certificated under a waiver to the main requirement of running without oil for 30 minutes before seizure. Will this be fixed before the President fly in it?


The events included a January 2008 incident where a S-92A operating near Sarawak, Malaysia experienced a MGB input module overheating event which led to a slow oil leak. In this occurrence, the flight crew received indications that they had high MGB oil temperature and low MGB oil pressure, accompanied by a burning smell; so the flight crew elected to carry out a precautionary landing.

Prior to this occurrence, in April of 2005, another S-92A in Norway experienced a vespel spline failure in a MGB oil pump drive that presented low MGB oil pressure indications to the flight crew. Only a short distance from an oil platform, the flight crew carried out a precautionary landing. In neither was there any serious damage to the MGB.

On 02 July 2008, a S-92A helicopter (registration VH-LOH, serial number 920036) operated by Canadian Helicopters Corporation (CHC) Australia was returning from an offshore oil facility en route to Broome, Australia with 2 pilots and 14 passengers onboard. The helicopter had been flying at 6000 feet asl for approximately 90 minutes when there was a red MGB OIL PRES warning message followed by the audio warning "Gearbox Pressure...Gearbox Pressure." The MGB oil pressure was less than 5 psi and decreasing and the MGB oil bypass switch was activated approximately seven seconds after noticing the low oil pressure warning.
The initial visual examination by CHC maintenance personnel and a Sikorsky field representative revealed that two of the three MGBoil filter bowl studs had fractured and the filter bowl had partially separated from the MGB causing a total loss of oil. One of the failed studs had been repaired on 09 June 2008.

On March 12, 2009, Cougar Helicopters Flight 91, an S-92A operated by Cougar Helicopters carrying 18 passengers and crew en route to oil platforms off the coast of Newfoundland, crashed and sank in 170 meters (560 ft) of water during an attempted ditching. One person was rescued from the North Atlantic with serious injuries  and the others did not survive. The crash was determined to be caused by total gearbox oil loss due to fracture of the main gearbox oil filter studs.

The US President is supposed to fly in this helicopter with his family.