St Helena Government commissioned GBB UK Limited to conduct an independent investigation into the causes of the airport closure in February 2026 following unavailability of the Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) vehicles. Dr Ross Beesley was on island from Monday, 27 July for two weeks to interview key stakeholders and to review physical evidence. SHG are now able to publish both the summary report and full report from this investigation, with the summary providing a 4-page overview of key findings.
Critical faults were identified in all three ARFF vehicles at St Helena Airport, resulting in an immediate downgrade from Category 7 to Category 0 and the suspension of routine commercial operations between 6–15 February 2026. This independent investigation set out to determine the technical root cause(s), assess any systemic or procedural weaknesses, and identify preventive actions to protect future critical equipment availability.
Two key conclusions were made from this investigation.
- At the point that the damage was first observed during routine inspection, there would have been no way to predict the remaining working life of the eccentrics, or the duration that the pumps could continue to be operated without sustaining a complete and catastrophic failure of the eccentrics (a component used to prime the water pump). This in turn could have rendered the ARFF vehicle(s) incapable of discharging any water.
- The evidence gathered suggests that St Helena Airport have operated, maintained, serviced and managed the ARFF vehicles as stipulated by the manufacturer.
The conclusions support the actions taken by the St Helena Airport.
Recommendations made:
- Include additional routine inspection/ servicing of the pump gearbox. Endoscopic inspection of the gearbox assembly on a 6 monthly cycle, and partial disassembly of the gearbox every 2 – 5 years.
- Contact manufacturers (suggestion of every 6 months) to check for any updates to operating manuals.
- Implement more transparent and thorough reporting to ensure a historic evidence trail can be maintained (referencing the example of a bearing being damaged during replacement works by the visiting engineer).
- Identify and address any sources of potential leaks that allow water ingress and incorporate this into routine servicing.
- Consider opportunities to conduct selected routine servicing and maintenance actions in addition to that set out in operating manuals, given the harsh environmental conditions at the airport.
St Helena Airport expect to take delivery of two replacement ARFF vehicles in October. R1 and R2 will become backups, and R3 will be decommissioned. St Helena Airport will provide more details once the two new vehicles have been commissioned.
SHG would like to thank everyone who assisted Dr Beasley in conducting this independent investigation.
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