Families of Cougar chopper crash victims file U.S. lawsuit

The families of most of the passengers who died when a helicopter carrying offshore oil workers crashed off eastern Newfoundland have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. manufacturer of the chopper.

The families of 14 passengers aboard Cougar Helicopters Flight 491, as well as the sole survivor of the March 12 crash, have filed a suit against Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. and four related companies.

The crash, which killed 17 of the 18 people aboard, occurred minutes after the two-man flight crew reported sudden mechanical problems with the aircraft's gearbox.

Martin Brigham, a Philadelphia lawyer, submitted a complaint on behalf of the families of the passengers.

In an email statement to The Canadian Press, Brigham said the families want answers on the safety issues raised by the crash.

The S-92A Sikorsky aircraft, operated by Cougar Helicopters of St. John's, had been touted by the defendants as "the safest helicopter in the world," a statement which the suit claims is false.

The suit claims the defendants, including Pennsylvania-based Keystone Helicopter Holdings, "falsely represented that the main gearbox … was a 'high durability gearbox' with a '30-minute run dry' capacity." The claim relates to how long the gearbox, a critical component in the flight gear, can operate after a sudden loss of oil.

The statement from Brigham's law firm said the primary goal of the families is to "get answers to serious questions about the design of the S-92 helicopter."

A spokesman for Keystone was not available to comment.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada, meanwhile, is expected to provide an update into its investigation of the Cougar crash on Thursday.

The TSB, which is still investigating the incident, has said that titanium mounting studs that attach an oil filter bowl assembly to the main gearbox broke during the flight.

The board has said the pilots indicated there was a problem with the main gearbox oil pressure before the crash.

The titanium studs have since been replaced with steel under a directive first issued by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

Breakage of a mounting stud "could result in rapid loss of oil, failure of the main gearbox, and subsequent loss of control of the helicopter," the FAA said in its order.

Sikorsky was made aware of the issue last August when an S-92A was forced to make an emergency landing in Australia after experiencing low oil pressure. The company issued an Alert Service Bulletin in January, asking that operators replace the studs within a year or by 1,250 flight hours.

The company has not commented directly on the gearbox problem reported before the crash off Newfoundland.

The Transportation Safety Board has said it remains unclear precisely what caused the crash, but less than 10 minutes after the oil pressure loss the chopper slammed at high speed into the Atlantic, about 65 kilometres southeast of St. John's.

Robert Decker, the lone survivor, escaped through the helicopter's window.

In his statement, Brigham says the families want to "use the legal system to ensure that other families never have to experience this type of tragedy."

The statement also says the families are seeking financial compensation, but doesn't indicate the amount being sought.