Skip to playerSkip to main contentSkip to footer
babycarseattips
  • 6/15/2025

Category

📺
TV
Transcript
00:00Off the coast of Newfoundland a helicopter crashes into the ocean when you see a tragedy like this
00:17it makes many many people across the country understand the sorrow 17 people are dead
00:24remarkably one man survives look at somehow he gets out in a helicopter that is sinking past 30 feet
00:36that was a long descent eventually my arms broke the surface it's very important to analyze what
00:44affected their ability to exit the aircraft what investigators uncover has a critical impact on the
00:50safety of every helicopter flying over water that man is lucky to be alive
01:20cougar flight 91 prepares for liftoff this is a commuter run from st john's newfoundland
01:28to offshore platforms in the hibernia oil fields captain matthew davis is at the controls
01:36in a helicopter unlike an airplane the captain sits on the starboard or right-hand side
01:43next stop sea roads first officer tim lanouette is in the left seat
01:50a veteran navy helicopter pilot he's a newcomer to civilian aviation
01:56ground cougar 91 request takeoff cougar 91 depart to the south then on course clear for takeoff
02:05the helicopter they're flying is a sikorsky s92 it's a large aircraft with room for 17 passengers and
02:18their gear the sikorsky s92 is kind of designed for this mission you can look at the s92 is kind
02:25of emerging of their best ideas from the u.s army's black hawk helicopter the hibernia oil fields are 170
02:34miles from st john's it would take 15 hours to get there by boat autopilot engaged autopilot engaged copy
02:44by helicopter it's only a 90-minute flight so for workers on oil rigs it's the primary mode of
02:52transportation will we have two for the sea rose affirmative and 14 for hibernia let's lighten the
03:03load early alpha routing copy gender cougar 91 uh taking a look at the ops plan here uh we would like
03:11to amend our flight plan we would like to go alpha routing hibernia first then c rose a minor change in
03:20plan cougar 91 will travel to the hibernia rig and then proceed to the c rose platform okay cougar 91 is
03:31cleared to hibernia via the amended route the flight is almost full the 16 passengers are service workers
03:42the cooks and cleaners of the offshore world robert decker is a weather observer for rigs in the north
03:50atlantic he's made this flight 50 times over the past three years because there are so many constraints
03:58on the amount of space and the amount of weight that a helicopter can carry the amenities in the
04:05helicopter are just stripped down to the bone so you're not going to find any of the amenities that you
04:10would find in an airbus or a boeing boiling in here high visibility survival suits are mandatory on all
04:23helicopter flights over the open sea unlike an airplane if you have to ditch in the water for any
04:30reason the aircraft will not float an airplane will float for you know anywhere from five minutes to many
04:38hours the helicopter will simply sink like a rock 28 minutes into the flight cougar 91 has leveled off at
04:46the standard cruising altitude 9,000 feet 9,000 feet copy
04:53three weeks on three weeks off
04:59life on a rig i don't know what's worse three weeks off i'd get bored gearbox pressure gearbox pressure
05:09mgb oil pressure oil is the lifeblood of a helicopter a problem with the oil pressure can be catastrophic
05:18emergency checklist while first officer lanowett looks for the checklist
05:25autopilot off captain davis disengages the autopilot so he has complete control of the aircraft
05:34then he does what all captains hope they will never have to do gander center cougar 91 mayday
05:40cougar 91 go ahead sir we have a main gearbox oil pressure problem request immediate clearance back to takeoff
05:47cougar 91 roger you can make a right turn heading 3-0-0
05:53the controller contacts the search and rescue headquarters in halifax
05:58halifax gander center we have a mayday call from a sikorsky s92 currently on return to st john's main gearbox problem
06:08flight 91 is 54 miles from land
06:13it will take them 30 minutes to reach shore
06:17captain davis alerts cougar helicopters dispatch center in st john's
06:25dispatch cougar 91 we're coming back to st john's
06:30cougar 91 dispatch roger keep us advised
06:33i'm taking her down to the water roger
06:37checklist yeah i'm still trying to find it
06:41it might be at the back of the book
06:44main gearbox failure we should be getting smells vibrations
06:49i don't smell anything what about the back
06:53nothing nobody's doing anything in the cabin
07:01cougar 91 is descending to just under 1000 feet
07:07the helicopter is now 52 miles from st john's
07:11gambler center for cougar 91 which runway would you like me to set you up for
07:17i'm going for the nearest piece of terra firma i can get to whatever i see first
07:21if it's cape spear or a parking lot
07:24okay i got the checklist mgb pressure below 35 psi
07:30the pressure gauge indicates that the main gearbox oil pressure is well below the
07:35normal range of 45 to 70 psi
07:39confirmed mgb oil temperature greater than 130 degrees
07:44but the reading on the temperature gauge is not what it would be if there was a loss of oil
07:48pressure the temperature looks normal the problem could be with the sensor
07:54cooker 91 gander search and rescue has been notified and if you have the time i'll take the
08:00souls on board and fuel remaining okay 2992 we have uh about three hours of fuel on board and 18 persons on board
08:10this is the captain
08:15we've had a major technical problem and at this time i'd ask for everyone to prepare your survival suits
08:21we are heading for the closest land
08:23cougar 91 dispatch
08:33cougar 91
08:35rescue is asking if ditching is imminent probable or possible
08:40dispatch 91 ditching is possible
08:44if possible can you update our senior pilot on the situation
08:48dispatch i think we have an oil pump problem or an oil pressure sensor problem
08:52matt can you describe the symptoms
08:54the gearbox oil temperature is still normal
08:58i don't think we've lost all the oil in the system
09:01i'm on a heading for closest landfall if this goes south on us
09:05cougar 91 is still 35 miles from the nearest land
09:11but now
09:13oh hell dispatch we're ditching ditching
09:17airspeed 122 man
09:23i think it just kicked on me
09:28okay nose up nose up
09:30all right we're turning call it in we're getting prepared to uh ditch uh ditching
09:41ditching ditching ditching
09:45500 feet you got this get it pointed downwind
09:54race race race race race
10:01the passengers and crew of cougar 91 are now trapped inside a sinking helicopter
10:24one of the most advanced helicopters in the world has dropped out of the sky into the icy north
10:37atlantic off the coast of newfoundland when you see a tragedy like this it makes many many people
10:41across the country uh understand the risks and understand the sorrow 17 people are dead there is
10:50only one survivor robert decker a young offshore oil worker is rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries
11:02the close-knit offshore oil community is shattered and looking for answers
11:08it's hard you know to believe that uh uh it happened to somebody winning your community
11:14this was an international accident there were about 80 sikorsky s92s operating worldwide and they were
11:24operating in every extreme environment you can imagine we really needed to drill down and figure out
11:30what had happened and why it happened the answers lie 554 feet beneath the surface of the atlantic ocean
11:39within hours of the crash canada's transportation safety board assembles a team to recover the wrecked
11:48helicopter and discover the cause of the crash
11:55mike cunningham will lead the investigation we were looking at a major accident and it was going to require
12:02a significant response from the tsb the transportation safety board is provided with the atlantic
12:09osprey a vessel designed to service offshore oil rigs alan chalk will lead the recovery effort
12:18it's one of the best pieces of equipment in this area when it comes to recovery it's very well equipped
12:29using the last known waypoints for cougar 91 the ship locates the wreckage within hours
12:36so our number one priority was to recover the victims and then the priority became the multi-purpose flight recorder
12:43and the remainder of the wreckage
12:47remotely operated vehicles or rovs are deployed to recover the victims
12:52and retrieve the wreckage from the ocean floor
12:55yeah this will do the tsb sets up operations in a hangar at st john's international airport
13:07yeah tell them all the wreckage comes in here
13:20there was no indication of any problems until the mayday came in right that's what we heard as well
13:27while cunningham waits for the wreckage to be recovered he interviews the air traffic controller who
13:32last had contact with the doomed helicopter we talked to the air traffic controllers to find out
13:39how things went on their end we look at their com tapes their radar tapes mayday came in at
13:4609 45. gander center cougar 91 mayday cougar 91 go ahead sir we have a main gearbox oil pressure problem
13:55cunningham gets his first clue he said that they had lost all main gearbox oil pressure so this was
14:04important information for us the main gearbox uses power from the engines to spin the main and tail rotors
14:14like the transmission in a car the gearbox requires a constant supply of oil to keep moving parts lubricated
14:21the main gearbox in a helicopter is a very critical piece of equipment the failure of the gearbox would
14:31mean a loss of lifting power from the main rotor the loss of directional control to the tail rotor
14:39cunningham needs to find out what caused the oil pressure warning the crew reported
14:45could there have been an oil leak in the main gearbox
14:47request the immediate clearance back to takeoff so the captain requested clearance back to st john's
14:54and that's 54 nautical miles how long would that take to fly 30 minutes but uh cougar 91 went down in
15:0411 minutes the fact that cougar 91 went down so quickly supports cunningham's hunch that there was an oil
15:12leak in the main gearbox but it doesn't explain why the pilots thought they could still reach land
15:20so something convinced him that he can make it back
15:29looking for answers cunningham asks the senior pilot at cougar helicopters if anything stood out from his radio
15:36exchange with the crew anything at all you could tell me would be helpful there's one thing that bugs me
15:42the oil temperature
15:47if the oil pressure inside the gearbox is falling and the oil is leaking out the temperature would begin
15:53to rise because now the gears are grinding against each other and generating a lot of heat
15:57he said the oil temperature was normal the gearbox oil temperature is still normal i don't think we've
16:04lost all the oil in the system he thought he still had oil
16:12the crew thought they could make it back to land because the oil temperature read normal
16:17so was the oil pressure warning a false alarm when the crew mentioned the oil temperature and it was
16:24indicating normally uh this told us that we needed to make sure that what they were seeing was in fact
16:33accurate to what was going on with the helicopter
16:39only the wreckage can provide the answers
16:44five days of calm seas make the helicopters quick recovery from the ocean floor possible
16:49over by the cabin floor the team finally gets a first look at the wreckage what can it reveal about
17:01the deadly crash when you look at an aircraft that strikes land you have a wreckage trail you have ground
17:07scars that can tell you certain things the water gives up very little there's nothing left to look at
17:14it's just the surface of the water so you have to focus on the fuselage damn so it was upright when it hit
17:24pancake dropped like a rock
17:30my initial impression of the helicopter was that it struck the water at a significant vertical rate
17:36when an object hits water water is non-compressible it'll cause a little bit of a different kind of
17:42damage signature than what would be as if it hit the land it's hard to believe anyone survived
17:56investigator alan chalk's recovery of cougar 91 provides a big break in the investigation
18:03here you go what do we got here voice recorder transcript and audio file all the uh flight data on
18:10here yeah okay good major piece in any investigation is recorders you start narrowing the focus down in each component
18:22will the data confirm an oil pressure problem in the main gearbox
18:28look at this
18:33here's the oil pressure warning
18:34here's the oil supply gone the flight data recorder shows the main gearbox oil pressure dropped from 54 psi
18:44to zero in less than two minutes that happened fast if the gearbox had lost all oil pressure the possibility
18:54of a catastrophic failure of the gearbox had to be taken into consideration
19:04uh-huh within days of the wreckage recovery the helicopter's manufacturer sikorsky has questions about the crash
19:15that's right the whole main gearbox
19:16it turns out sikorsky and the u.s federal aviation administration or faa are extremely interested in the
19:42same piece of wreckage as cunningham come over here when the faa uh and sikorsky showed up it seemed
19:52they were very anxious about this accident we need to look at this they unrolled the schematic of the main
20:03gearbox and said that this is something that we have to look closely at
20:07this isn't the first time this has happened is it
20:18investigators learned that eight months earlier a sikorsky s92 in australia got the same gearbox warning
20:27gearbox pressure gearbox pressure
20:30but that s92 reached land in less than seven minutes without incident
20:40the circumstances are identical
20:46catastrophic loss of oil unusual oil temperature reading same we were conscious about not jumping to
20:53conclusions too early to conclusions too early that being said if it was indeed the same problem
20:59that was encountered in australia it was going to be important to take action quickly
21:06is there some flaw in the design of the main gearbox so what went wrong right here
21:14the oil filter bowl the oil filter bowl filters the 11 gallons of oil circulating through the main gearbox
21:22it's fastened to the gearbox with three studs the investigators now focus on this key component here we go
21:36wow two of the studs are gone it was very obvious once we pulled back the panels that surround the
21:43main gearbox that two attachment points had definitely been compromised there was a gap between
21:50oil filter housing and the main gearbox and that's where the oil in the main gearbox exited so it wasn't a slow
21:59leak poured out all at once this discovery confirms what investigators saw in the fdr data an extremely
22:07sudden loss of oil they now have concrete evidence that oil leaked because of the broken studs so what made the studs fail
22:19what does it mean on these ones titanium oh this looks like galling
22:29galling is a form of wear caused when two surfaces are moving against each other particularly two different
22:36metals under pressure
22:40titanium is prone to galling especially when in contact with steel
22:45when you're trying to tighten a nut onto a stud that has a significant amount of galling
22:51it can actually jam before it's properly tightened in the location it should be in
22:58once fatigue cracking began well it's just a matter of time until failure
23:03sikorsky studied the australian helicopter's broken studs and concluded the galling was caused
23:14by the steel nuts used to fasten them
23:16and take a look at this
23:28alert to operators of the s92 replace all titanium studs within a year or 1200 flying hours
23:36six weeks before the newfoundland crash sikorsky issued an advisory to swap the titanium studs for steel studs
23:47they knew the studs could fail
23:50sikorsky had known there was a problem with these studs previously
23:56the thing that we found distressing it was that most of these studs showed
24:01some kind of damage on them which this enhanced visual inspection should have picked up sikorsky
24:09said that the titanium studs would last at least a year cougar got the replacement parts but maintenance
24:14didn't think that it was urgent enough to replace the studs immediately
24:20when the accident occurred uh those parts had uh had just been recently received by the company and
24:27they knew they had to replace these studs eventually with new steel ones the question now is why did cougar delay
24:35replacing the studs
24:39oh hell dispatch we're ditching
24:50investigators need to find out why sikorsky told operators they could wait a year to replace the studs
24:57the team examines how the s92s main gearbox was certified all right i got something
25:08sikorsky says possible failures of the main gearbox that could result in a rapid loss of oil are extremely
25:16remote extremely remote yeah what does that mean
25:19one in 10 million two failures in less than a year it's not one in 10 million
25:30basically what they're saying is in the normal lifetime of this machine uh the possibility of
25:37a total loss of lubricant will almost never happen sikorsky didn't communicate the urgency of replacing
25:44the studs because they didn't understand how severe the situation really was
25:57as the 17 victims of the crash are laid to rest
26:01the offshore oil community focuses on the cougar 91 investigation
26:05we see this this accident something that we're all in together we're hurting thousands of people
26:14from tourists to world leaders fly in sikorsky helicopters every day
26:19are they at risk from some unknown floor investigators are eager for the medical examiner's report
26:28they hope it will tell them exactly what happened to those on board the helicopter when it hit the water
26:33in the meantime the team reviews the data from the helicopter's recorders hoping to find out how
26:41the pilots handled the emergency situation all right this is at 0945 local dispatch cover 91 we're
26:51coming back to st john's one of the first things that this crew did was uh make a 180 degree turn back
26:58towards the land because it's always much better to make an emergency landing on the ground than in
27:03the water main gearbox failure we should be getting smells vibrations i don't smell anything they're not
27:12feeling any vibration they're not smelling anything burning it's uh perfectly understandable that they
27:18would want to try to get back to that parking lot of cape spear problem could be with the sensor
27:25as the team continues listening they hear the pilots troubleshooting the crisis
27:33cougar 91 gander you are unable to maintain altitude is that correct in this condition we have to be down
27:41as close to the surface as possible in case of a catastrophic failure for a crew cruising at 9 000 feet
27:47in level flight on a nice day the first task when a warning light goes on is to try to figure out is
27:54it an indication system problem or is there some kind of real underlying problem captain reduces
28:01altitude from 9 000 feet to a thousand feet the cvr then reveals something changed just under 1 000
28:11feet that force the pilots to suddenly ditch oh hell dispatch we're ditching ditching ditching ditching
28:22investigators need to find out what that was let's look at the pinion the pinion is the gear that
28:28transmits power from the main gearbox to the tail rotor this tail rotor takeoff pinion is being driven
28:34at a high rate at a high rate and as heat builds up the hardness of the material goes away
28:40now you have the potential for damage on the teeth here you go so what is this supposed to look like
28:46uh basically uh there were no teeth left on it take off pinion in the end without oil in the main
29:01gearbox friction wears away the pinion's teeth stripped clean well no opinion no tail rotor no tail rotor no
29:11control the tail rotor's main job is to keep the helicopter straight it counters the spinning force
29:21created by the large rotor that lifts the aircraft without a tail rotor the helicopter would spin
29:28uncontrollably the pilot's only option at that point is to land the helicopter with no engine power
29:34when the engines are turned off air flowing upwards through the blades should allow for the helicopter
29:41to glide to a safe landing the pilot still has control over the helicopter's overall airspeed and direction
29:50the optimal altitude for such a glide is 200 feet but the cougar captain kept his altitude at nearly 1000 feet
29:59why didn't he take it down lower there's a 500 foot hill between him and the airport
30:09he was trying to stay high enough to clear it way too high
30:16all right we're turning call it in we're getting prepared to uh ditch ditching he was at high airspeed
30:25and at 800 feet and at high power and that aircraft really was not in a position to be ditched in that
30:35configuration that was in no way a ditching that day that was a crash
30:44investigators of the cougar 91 crash look into the final communications between the captain and first
30:59officer
31:02okay so the checklist says land immediately and we know that's not what they did
31:07fo says checklist is complete we're in a land immediately condition land immediately means put
31:15the helicopter down even if you're over water or not very flat terrain but the captain says
31:24i'm going to stop descent at 1000 feet
31:28first officer is telling him that they should put it down on the water
31:31well it's easier said than done we're in a land immediately condition roger i'm going to stop
31:38descent at 1000 feet
31:421000 feet okay checklist is complete
31:48we're in the land immediately condition
31:49i would say that there really was a disconnect in that cockpit the captain had a very strong
31:58personality and as the situation developed he became more and more intent upon making it to land
32:06i'm going for the nearest piece of terra firma i can get to whatever i see first if it's cape
32:10sphere or a parking lot
32:11the first officer had more experience in over water flying and ditching scenarios he used to fly
32:21the sea kings for the canadian military but he had a quieter personality there should have been more
32:28interaction between the captain and the first officer despite the concerns that the first officer was
32:36trying to convey to him about the need to possibly land immediately when he didn't hear any noises or
32:44sounds he made a decision that he wanted to make and that's called confirmation bias
32:51he wanted to make it back to shore
32:55at 09 48 32 the captain says you know i'm thinking this is a sensor problem
33:00why does he think that when they said that the oil temperature was normal but with a leak it should
33:10be spiking they believed that they had probably an oil pump or oil pressure sensor problem because
33:19their oil temperature gauge had not increased at all it was basically showing what would be expected normally
33:28no the oil's reading is normal range a sensor in the main gearbox provides an oil temperature
33:36reading for the crew you know all the oil is gone by now
33:43it's reading the air temp it's reading the air temp
33:49the oil temperature sensor in in the main gearbox of the s92s is a wet sensor if there's no oil
33:56present it's just sensing the ambient temperature within that gearbox
34:04they felt no strange vibrations no no smell and they saw the temperature was normal
34:13yeah that makes sense that's why the guy kept flying they had no idea how much trouble they were in
34:18until the pinion failed
34:26oh hell dispatch we're ditching ditching airspeed 122 matt
34:33but the tail rotor fails just below 1 000 feet too high to perform a safe ditching
34:40they lost directional control of the helicopter and this is probably the most challenging emergency
34:47that any helicopter pilot will face with no engine power descent rate is uh you know usually about 1500
34:55feet per minute so in the best of circumstances this crew only had about 30 seconds to do everything right
35:01is there anything the pilots could have done in those last few seconds to recover
35:10so they lost the tail rotor here and it was all over in less than 15 seconds
35:14god the engines shut them down shut them both down shut it down one and two okay nose up nose up
35:27all right we're turning calling it we're getting prepared to uh ditch uh ditching
35:32500 feet you got this get it pointed down wind it's turning right on me come on
35:45there you go you got this you got this you got this i'm full up doing good keep her spinning
35:53rotor's low it's too late the fate of cougar 91 is sealed uh here we go here we go race
36:03the ditching began from 800 feet so those control inputs were all initiated too high
36:09so the result was essentially sinking like a rock
36:15the captain in the end he unfortunately wound up in a position where he didn't have enough energy
36:22remaining to land safely on the water the main gearbox makes helicopters top heavy
36:31once they hit water they tend to capsize and sink quickly aircraft did strike the water with a high
36:39vertical descent and it would not have been on the surface of that water for very long
36:45at all were the passengers doomed once cougar 91 hit the water
36:55investigators finally get the medical examiner's report
36:58the conclusion is shocking
37:10they all survived the crash
37:12instead all 17 victims died from drowning it was a bit of a shock to think that 17 people had
37:23survived that impact but only one had survived the accident
37:28so why does only robert decker survive how was he able to escape investigators start by looking at where he's seated
37:40so decker is seated in 3d on the right hand side the team has already determined that as cougar 91 hit
37:48the surface it rolled left and quickly filled with water decker was lucky to be on the right side
37:53undo harness find a window get out get up to the surface that's if you're not too badly injured
38:00but look at this i mean look at it somehow he gets out in a helicopter that is sinking past 30 feet
38:12he holds his breath he gets to the surface all in water that is just barely above freezing
38:16even with a survival suit on uh as soon as you get immersed in that cold water that cold water is
38:26going to rob your ability to hold your breath and he floats there for an hour and 20 minutes before he's
38:32rescued that man is lucky to be alive
38:36a helicopter with a design floor gearbox pressure gearbox pressure instruments with a misleading readout
38:53your temperature looks normal and a cockpit with differing assessments we're in the land immediately
39:00condition brace brace brace only one person survived the resulting crash
39:18what did robert decker do to ensure his survival
39:24it's very important to analyze how individuals would have gotten out
39:29what affected their ability to exit the aircraft investigators hope the lone survivor can provide
39:42some answers eight months after the crash of kooka 91 decker testifies at a hearing in st john's newfoundland
39:52the helicopter was sinking quickly with its port side down and it instantly filled with water
39:59it was as if it was sinking the same way it was dropping through the sky
40:06i undid my seat belt and i pulled myself out through the window
40:10the window would have been directly above me because um as it was sinking on its side
40:18when he first became conscious of of where he was in the environment he was in
40:24he looked up and he looked up and he could see a light in the distance and because the fuselage was
40:31already opened up he was able to get out
40:37then it was a long i guess ascent to the surface i kind of had my hands above my my head
40:43and uh i could look up and i could see it was getting brighter and brighter and i guess eventually
40:51my arms broke the surface and i could tell that i survived the helicopter crash
40:58he said that he attributed some of it to to luck as well as his physical abilities
41:09a crash into water is traumatic most passengers will be stunned and unable to act quickly
41:18research shows that as many as 15 percent of passengers fail to take any action
41:23in fact drowning is the leading cause of death following a helicopter ditching or crash into water
41:32with the water temperatures we had even with a survival suit on as soon as you get immersed
41:39that cold water is going to rob your ability to hold your breath that's why survival training is a
41:46critical rehearsal for such an event when investigators dig into the training of all the people on board
41:54cougar 91 they discover that everyone had received mandatory survival training in a simulated ditching
42:02if the helicopter sinks you have to wait till it's fully submerged and then you kind of take your last
42:08breath you release your seat belt your hands already on the ledge and you pull yourself out
42:14but decker was the only passenger who had cold water experience in his youth he often sailed in the
42:20atlantic and had capsized in the cold sea when the helicopter suddenly filled with icy water
42:27i could react instinctively it was like a reflex to take a breath and to hold it and to stay calm until
42:32i could get to the surface while decker's training and cold water experience played a key role in his
42:39survival safety on board a helicopter begins long before it lifts off
42:47the only way to keep every offshore worker safe is to keep every helicopter in the air
42:53in its final report the transportation safety board makes recommendations that will improve safety
42:59not just in the sikorsky but in all helicopters
43:02emergency underwater breathing apparatus are now mandatory for all occupants of helicopters involved
43:10in overwater flights the unit provides approximately two minutes of air this was another key change that
43:19took place as a result of this accident and again not just in canada but around the world the tsb also
43:27recommends reviewing how long a helicopter should be able to run without any oil in the main gearbox
43:37it was a broad and deep investigation that uncovered every safety issue that there was to uncover about
43:44that helicopter and about flying in the offshore i think our recommendations made flying in the offshore
43:52that were much much safer
43:58much much safer
44:00much safer
44:02much safer
44:04much safer
44:06much safer
44:08much safer
44:10much safer
44:12much safer safer