Lori Chynn, widowed after the Cougar helicopter crash, is questioning why Transport Canada certified the aircraft when it didn’t meet a test on how long its main gearbox could run without oil. Chynn is pressing the federal government to review its certification standards and explain why it gave the Sikorsky S-92 an airworthiness certificate. In a statement yesterday, Chynn and two New Democrat MPs said it was known years before the crash that the helicopter couldn’t fly for 30 minutes without oil. She is looking to Transport Minister Chuck Strahl for some answers. “I believe that we must learn from this tragedy and do what is necessary to ensure the safety of those who continue to work offshore,” she said at a news conference in Ottawa. “Safety must come before profit.”
