N.L. chopper safety report due in October

Thereport and recommendations on offshore helicopter safety will be delivered to the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board in late October.

Officials with the Offshore Helicopter Safety Inquiry said Thursday that commissioner Robert Wells expects to be finished his report in early October and will have it printed and delivered to the board by Oct. 25.

Wells, a retired Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador judge, was appointed to lead the inquiry in 2009.

His mandatewas established by the board after a helicopter carrying oil industry workers crashed about 55 kilometres east of St. John's on March 12, 2009. Both pilots and 15 passengers died.

Once the board receives the report from Wells, it will decide whether it should be released to the public, said an inquiry official

The Sikorsky S92 helicopter that crashed in 2009 was owned and operated by Cougar Helicopters Ltd. in St. John's.

In February, the board ordered companies to take immediate steps to improve the safety of those being flown to offshore platforms by helicopter.

The changes ordered Feb.12 were prompted by preliminary recommendations from Wells.

Cougar was ordered to reduce response times for emergency calls from one hour to 15 minutes and stop night flights until it obtained helicopters equipped to perform search and rescue operations at night.

Cougar is expected to achieve those goals by late 2010.