Gardner Leader

Two leading litigation lawyers have offered their legal experience and expertise to the relatives of the victims of the Super Puma helicopter tragedy which killed 16 people last month. The Super Puma helicopter was returning to Aberdeen from a North Sea BP oil platform  on 1^st April when it went down off Scotland’s northeast coast.   Many of the victims were young men and it is estimated that, if court action is successful, millions of pounds in compensation could be awarded to their families. 

Chris Felton, Partner at Gardner Leader LLP in Newbury and Dr Michael Powers QC, based in London, have worked together on similar cases before, perhaps most notably the Eurocopter Twin Squirrel helicopter crash in 2003, which killed all three crew members when their aircraft came down in Hampshire .  Eurocopter, the same manufacturer of the Super Puma model, settled out of court for an undisclosed sum last year.

An interim report by the Air Accidents Investigations Branch (AAIB) found a ‘catastrophic’ gearbox failure caused the rotor blades to separate from the Super Puma AS332L2, severing the fuselage. As a result of the accident, the Super Puma fleet serving the North Sea oil industry was grounded after the AAIB ordered urgent checks to all the aircraft’s gearboxes.

It is clear that the lawyers’ experience of dealing with aviation negligence and fatal and catastrophic cases would be invaluable to the families seeking financial recompense. Powers is currently fighting to clear the names of two RAF pilots killed in the Chinook helicopter crash on the Mull of Kintyre crash in 1994, while Felton’s career includes successful compensation claims for victims of the Ufton Nervet  and Ladbroke Grove rail crashes.

Powers asserts: “ Whatever happened  to that [Super Puma] aircraft, someone is to blame. There is nothing that the pilot could have done to control the helicopter. This tragedy must be the consequence of a latent design failure, a critical component failure or poor maintenance.”

Felton adds: “Such cases are highly emotive and must be handled as sensitively as possible. A collaborative approach with aircraft and component manufacturers is key in order to establish the cause of any component or design failure and to resolve families’ claims quickly.  The AAIB play a vital role in this process.  We can draw on our experience in having dealt with similar claims for the benefit of the families.”