Widows of crash victims tell inquiry into offshore helicopter safety that tragedy was preventable

The widows of three of the offshore workers who died in the March 12, 2009, Cougar helicopter crash told the Wells inquiry this morning the tragedy was preventable.
Lori Chynn of Deer Lake lost her 41-year-old husband John Pelley.
She said he had an "aversion to flying" and didn't talk about offshore helicopter flights at home.
"But he did make it clear that he preferred the 16- to 18-hour boat ride."
Chynn has attended many of the public hearings since they began in October.
She told the inquiry her husband would not have flown if he had known about an alert service bulletin advising Sikorsky S-92A operators to replace titanium mounting studs with steel studs. Those studs attach the filter bowl assembly to the helicopter's main gearbox.
"Given John's aversion (to) flying, I strongly feel that if he was provided with the information regarding the problems with the helicopter studs he would have opted not to fly on Flight 491 on March 12, 2009."
Chynn said good communication with workers is important.
"There needs to be a pro-active approach, not a reactive one.
"In my opinion, the decision to fly the helicopters before waiting to replace the studs was reactive tactic - not a pro-active stance."
On Jan. 28, 2009, Sikorsky issued the alert service bulletin, advising the titanium bolts be replaced within 1,250 flight hours or one year, which ever came first.
Without the bolts, oil can leak out of the gearbox.
Minutes before the crash, Cougar Flight 491's pilot reported an oil-pressure problem.
Cougar Helicopters, which flies offshore workers to and from the oilfields off Newfoundland, testified last week that the bulletin was reviewed, the parts ordered and started arriving March 13.
The studs were replaced after the crash.
Sharon Pike of Shearstown lost her 49-year-old husband Paul.
"Paul would want me to say to the manufacturer, to the operator of the helicopter and to the oil companies that he did not have to lose his life on the morning of Thursday, March 12, 2009," she told the inquiry
"He did not have to die in such a horrific way.
"If these companies had acted upon the warning they had when the helicopter was forced to land in Australia in July 2008 and fixed the problem with the gearbox immediately, rather than allowing for a timeframe of one year or 1,250 flying hours, Paul would be with his children and me today.
"Someone in one of these companies should've taken this situation more seriously."
Marilyn Nash, the wife of 49-year-old Burch Nash of Fortune, told the inquiry that all the families who lost loved ones in the helicopter crash have been "robbed of our happiness."
She said the companies that knew there was a problem with the mounting studs should have fixed it sooner.
"They all died because some people decided that fixing this inexpensive part could wait, and they didn't even bother to inspect those bolts before they left for the offshore.
"Wouldn't you think that knowing there was a problem with the bolts in the gearbox that it would make a point of checking to make sure that everything was OK?"
Nash also questioned the presence of the auxiliary fuel tank inside the helicopter's passenger cabin.
"Recently the companies … moved the fuel tanks from one side to the other," she said. "Doesn't this still make it very difficult for every person to get out if they had to ditch?
"Why couldn't they just put the fuel tank along the back wall and give all passengers window seats?"
Chynn told the inquiry that priority must be given to offshore helicopter safety.
"Our province is reaping great financial benefit from offshore resources, and because of this the men and women who work in the industry rightly deserve, as Commissioner Wells has stated, first-class safety," she said.
"For the workers to arrive safely at their offshore destination, as Mr. Decker so eloquently put it, the helicopters need to stay in the air."
She said survival suits, underwater breathing devices, and search and rescue are also vital to worker safety.
All three widows also wished survivor Robert Decker well and thanked him for his courage in appearing at the inquiry in early November.
"His compelling account March 12, 2009, and his perspective on helicopter safety speaks volumes and must be heard," said Chynn.
Decker said offshore survival training and the survival suits worn during helicopter flights were inadequate.