A NUMBER of police and air ambulance helicopters have been grounded while maintenance checks are carried out.
It follows an incident involving the London Air Ambulance at Denham Airfield, in Buckinghamshire.
An internal fan system fault, which can cause a drop in height, is understood to be the cause of the scare.
Humberside Police has grounded helicop
ters until checks are complete along with forces in Dorset, West Yorkshire, Sussex and Wiltshire, while air ambulance helicopters in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire and at Durham Tees Valley Airport have also been affected.
McDonnell Douglas (MD) 902 series helicopters are involved. The 902 series does not have a tail rotor and instead uses a fan exhaust system. It is believed that similar earlier faults with fan belts in the internal system have affected other 902 helicopters involving the police in Germany, France and the United States.
The Gloucestershire-based Specialist Aviation Services, which leases the 902s, said the fault could affect up to 30 craft throughout the UK.
l Call-outs for the air ambulance in the area this year include an accident on the A1079 at Wilberfoss. On 16 January a head-on crash near to the Claas machinery business left three people injured, all of whom were airlifted to hospital.
The police helicopter was scrambled in August last year when a 21-year-old Pocklington man threatened police with an air rifle.
The full article contains 237 words and appears in Pocklington Post newspaper.
