The lack of sufficient supervision by the National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC) and the contractual failures between the National Institute for Medical Emergency (INEM) and Babcock are reflected in the final report of the Aircraft Accident and Railway Accident Prevention and Investigation Office ( GPIAAF), to which the Lusa agency had access, relating to the accident with the INEM helicopter that collided with a tower in the Serra de Santa Justa, Valongo, Porto district, in December 2018, causing the death of the four occupants.
The current contract for the provision of the Emergency Medical Service Helicopters (HEMS) service states that Babcock “should have installed an aircraft tracking system that would allow the monitoring and execution of missions in real time by the contractor [INEM]”.
“The said system was not installed on the aircraft by the operator, nor verified by the contractor,” says the report.
The five-year contract, awarded in June 2018, also stipulates that Babcock must ensure that INEM has access to information and data on the operation, risks and mitigation actions on the contracted service.
“The investigation found that, until the date of the accident, the public contractor [INEM] did not have or request such information from the operator [Babcock], having only the data that the operator sent him regarding generic contractual aspects of the operation of the four bases and with limited information such as hours flown and problems with the availability of means,” reveals GPIAAF.
Following the failures detected, both in supervision and in the contract between INEM and Babcock, GPIAAF made safety recommendations to Babcock, INEM and ANAC.
One of the recommendations to the regulator is “on the supervision carried out on the operator, namely with regard to compliance with the limits of time of service, rest and crew readiness”, and another is “on the promotion of the approval of legislation adequate to an effective inspection of the operation of the night marking of obstacles to air navigation outside airport areas”.