This demand to get helicopters in the air more quickly was issued after a recommendation made by Robert Wells, commissioner of an ongoing inquiry in St John’s into the crash last March of a Sikorsky S-92 helicopter, operated by Cougar Helicopters, that left 17 people dead.
Although the inquiry will run until September, Wells felt it prudent to fast-track the search-and-rescue recommendation and another recommendation calling for a ban on offshore night flights until search-and-rescue helicopters contracted by oil companies are fitted with forward-looking radar.
