Helicopter carrying 16 people ditches in the North Sea... AGAIN!

Helicopter carrying 16 people ditches in the North Sea... AGAIN!

www.dailymail.co.uk

A rescue operation is underway after a helicopter ditched in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland this afternoon.

A helicopter with 16 people on board was returning from an oil platform in the North Sea.

The incident is believed to have happened about 35 miles east of Crimond at about 2pm.

It is no yet known if anyone has been killed.

(visit the link for the full news article)

That's the entire article so far, I'll update as it unfolds... I hope everyone on board is safe.

What is going on with these crossings? The last crash in the North Sea was 18th February, a little over a month ago.

Cut backs on safety checks? Interference?

UPDATE: 2 RAF Helicopters and Coastguard deployed. No answer to initial Mayday calls.



www.dailymail.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

UPDATE:

Sadly, it is being reported that 10 people aboard are feared dead and the remaining 6 people are missing.

This is breaking news from an Aberdeen newspaper (Aberdeen Evening Express). Thought's are with the families of the work and crewmen.

EDIT: Update source.

[edit on 1-4-2009 by Pr0t0]

I'm leaning towards a maintenance related issue. Both helicopters are from the Bond.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Indeed they are... we're being told that they are in fact different models. Today's crash involved a helicopter much older version of the Bond Super Puma helicopter which crashed earlier in the year.

Firstly my condolences to the those who's lives are lost & their families.

Now feel free to call me paranoid, part of me feels this way myself.

But I cant help but think how much of a coincidence it is to have a tragic news story at the same time unfolding & running alongside all reports on the G20 Protests diverting attention from those matters...

Could this have been arranged?

reply to post by Pr0t0


Different models, same maintenance crews.

The initial findings for the Super Puma accident in February are that the height/terrain warning system failed. They got to low altitude, and didn't get any altitude warnings, despite being within parameters for the warning.

The crew disabled the check height warning, but a warning should have sounded at 100 feet that can't be disabled by the pilots, as well as from the terrain avoidance system that also can't be disabled by the pilots.

We'll have to wait and see what the cause of this accident is, but there should be a report out within a month or so.

The AS332L1 series was grounded in 1997 after a Helikopter Service AS332L crashed off the Norwegian coast, killing 12 people.

[edit on 4/1/2009 by Zaphod58]

Now we have Gordon Brown taking time out to make a special address highligting the risks those have to take in providing us with our energy resources...hmm

Guess that's the problem with conspiracy, you begin to suspect everything, even though it may simply be a tragic accident down to mechanical fault.

Anyway R.I.P those involved, God bless.

There are 8 confirmed dead, and 8 missing. Initial reports are that it was a catastrophic failure of the aircraft that caused the crash.

A terrible loss, my thoughts are with their family and colleagues.

I heard on the news this morning that there was an issue over the location beacons being removed from the individual crew menbers life jackets.

Apparently after the last crash, they decided to remove the crews own beacons as they could possibly interfere with the locator beacon of the chopper.

This means that whilst the chopper could be found in the sea, any bodies swept away from the chopper would not have a beacon on them, and therefore va,uable time would have been lost in finding them.

Cx.

[edit on 2/4/09 by CX]

They confirmed that the crew got out a brief mayday, and then was seen making a rapid decent and impacting the water. This one was an AS332L2, and the RMT transportation union has issued calls for the type to be grounded until they know the cause.

They're reporting that divers recovered another 7 bodies today, as well as the combined flight/data recorder. It's believed that the pilots were among the bodies.

Catastrophic failure of the gear box. The main rotor head detached with the four main rotor blades, which struck the tail boom, severing it from the fuselage. They were 51 minutes out from the platform, the copilot radioed in to give their ETA, 12 seconds later the mayday call came. They were seen on radar to climb from 2000 feet to 2200 feet, before rolling onto their right side, and plummeting to the ocean.

Initial investigation has revealed that the Eurocopter AS332L2 Super Puma helicopter lost in the North Sea on 1 April suffered a catastrophic failure of its main rotor gearbox, causing the main rotor head to detach.

The main rotor blades struck the pylon and tail boom, severing it from the fuselage, and the aircraft crashed into the sea, about 17km off the Scottish coast, killing all 16 on board.

Flight