HELICOPTERS flying to vacant oil rigs will have to be fitted with technology that reduces the risk the aircraft going on fire if it crashes.
The move is among a number of proposals designed to improve safety on the 116 unattended offshore installations in the North Sea.
There are also plans for helicopters to be banned from flying to a vacant rig unless they have full capability to fly safely on one engine following loss of power of its other engine.
Helidecks should also be fitted with automatic fire fighting systems, with the aircraft equipped with "fully crashworthy systems" to reduce the risk of a post-impact fire.
The proposals have been put forward by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and will be implemented "on a very short timescale" in conjunction with industry bodies.
CAA Director of Safety and Airspace Mark Swan said: "The safety of the offshore flying has increased considerably over the past year. One area we want to focus on specifically is flights to unattended installations which, because there may be no one on the rig to assist following an accident, don't have the same level of safety as manned rigs. We will therefore progress this work as a priority to ensure offshore workers flying to these installations have the highest levels of safety possible."
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