A Cougar helicopter carrying crew from an offshore installation in Canada had trouble landing at the St. John’s airport last week.
According to the Canadian offshore safety body CNLOPB, on July 13, 2017, Suncor Energy reported that while on final approach for landing at St. John’s airport, from the Terra Nova FPSO, Cougar Flight 421 received an indication of a potential problem with the landing gear.
The crew completed a precautionary fly-by of the control tower and received visual confirmation that the landing gear did not extend as expected. Flight 421 then declared an emergency with the tower so they would be given priority.
The crew was eventually able to get the landing gear to extend and after a second fly-by of the tower and visual confirmation by Cougar’s maintenance team that the landing gear was extended, the helicopter landed safety in St. John’s without further incident, CNLOPB said.
Local emergency crews were on site. There were 14 passengers and 2 flight crew onboard.