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On July 20, the Republic of Korea Marine Corps released an image of the site of where the Marineon 2 amphibious utility helicopter crashed in July 2018.
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Defective rotor mast from Airbus Helicopters identified as cause of accident
July 17 marked the one-year anniversary of the crash of the Marines’ Marineon 2 amphibious utility helicopter, which claimed the lives of five military personnel. Now family members of the victims have filed a complaint with prosecutors accusing a company of professional negligence resulting in death for supplying the component responsible for the accident. “Family members of the victims of the Marineon crash submitted a complaint on July 16 with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office accusing [French company] Airbus Helicopters Korea (AH) – the company that manufactured and supplied the rotor mast identified as the cause of the accident – of professional negligence resulting in death,” the Center for Military Human Rights, Korea (MHRK) reported that day. The rotor mast is the central axis turning the helicopter’s propeller through power received from the engine. On Dec. 21 of last year, a joint civilian/government/military investigation committee attributed the Marineon crash to the loss of the main rotor due to rupturing of the rotor mast, which it confirmed to have been the result of cracking that occurred during the material manufacturing process. The family members of the victims said they had “submitted a criminal complaint against the French company Airbus Helicopters Korea to ensure that safety accidents due to equipment no longer occur in the military.” In a July 17 telephone interview with the Hankyoreh, Noh Seung-heon, the father of Marineon crash victim Lt. Col. No Dong-hwan, said, “It is the position of all the family members that the deaths of the lost Marines must not be in vain.” “For that to happen, although it is truly painful to have lost my son, the accidents need to be ended,” he said. “That can only happen when Airbus Helicopters Korea, the company that manufactured and supplied the rotor mast component responsible for the accident, is held sternly accountable and punished,” he added. Noh went on to say, “Since the Surion [domestically produced amphibious utility helicopter] that is currently in operation also uses a rotor mast by Airbus Helicopters Korea, that’s all the more reason we need to clearly identify where responsibility lies and take measures to ensure safety.” AH rotor masts are used on the Marineon and Surion, both of which have resumed flight activities. No stressed that the “case for professional negligence resulting in death is clear.” As a basis for this, he said, “Even after the component suffered cracking due to errors during Airbus Helicopters Korea’s production of the rotor mast, the product in question was supplied to KAI as it was.” “It did not take any measures to prohibit flight activities or recall the product after delivery even after it learned through testing that cracking had occurred in rotor masts identical to the one on the helicopter in the accident,” he said. Helicopter crashed after flying 152 hours with cracked rotor mast No said the Marineon 2 “crashed after being flown for some 152 hours with a cracked rotor mast.” “The same rotor mast was also used on two Surion helicopters. The only reason there were no accidents was because the Surion flight times were shorter than the Marineon 2’s.” MHRK explained, “It has basically emerged that helicopters were being flown with defective products even after the deaths of five military personal in a terrible accident.” “The flight stability of the Marineon and Surion helicopters has yet to be adequately proven,” it added. “The Surion in particular resumed full normal operation a week after the announcement of the accident investigation findings, and it continues to be dangerously flown in the military, police, firefighting, and healthcare fields,” the center said. “Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and the Ministry of National Defense (MND) have not notified the surviving family members of plans for any measures to improve the stability of the models in question,” it claimed. The MND said that measures to improve the Marineon’s safety were established after the accident. In a telephone interview with the Hankyoreh, an official with the Marines explained, “A plan for phased-in flight resumption was formulated after the cause of the accident was identified.” “To improve the safety of Surion-class aircraft, we have reached a mutual agreement for the French government to cooperate with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) on international quality assurance for flight safety items purchased from Airbus Helicopters Korea,” the official said. The same official added that the Marineon “resumed flight operations in late December of last year after a review by the Marines’ central joint technology committee, with flights scheduled for normalization according to the phased-in flight resumption sequence.” On July 17 of last year, the Marineon 2 was engaging in a test flight to check for maintenance issues following servicing at Pohang Airport when it crashed from an altitude of 13.7m. Five Marines on board the helicopter were killed: Col. Kim Jeong-il, Lt. Col. No Dong-hwan, 1st Sgt. Kim Jin-hwa, Gy. Sgt. Kim Se-yeong, and Sgt. Park Jae-woo. Another passenger is still undergoing treatment. By Kim Min-je, staff reporter Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
