Times article
Desperate mayday emerges from doomed helicopter - Times Online
April 3, 2009
Desperate mayday emerges from doomed helicopter
Lindsay McIntosh
The final desperate message transmitted by the doomed Bond Offshore helicopter just moments before it plunged into the North Sea was revealed today.
The last seconds of the 14 passengers and two crew emerged as specialist recovery vehicles combed the seabed for the remains of the craft. The bodies of the eight men who have not yet been found are believed to be trapped inside the Super Puma which crashed off the coast of Aberdeenshire on its return from BP's Miller oilfield on Wednesday.
Before it dropped into the sea in "a hard landing", the captain managed to sound a mayday which was heard by all boats and helicopters in the area at the time. One pilot, who asked not to be named, said he heard: "Mayday, mayday - oh, f***". Then, there was only silence.
The pilot said: "Normally the crew would say 'mayday, mayday, mayday' and then provide any other information they could, including their position, what had gone wrong if they knew this and any action they intended to take."
He said that some of the pilots who were in the air when they heard the message have since been too distressed to fly. About 60 workers on the Miller platform have also been too upset to work and 19 of them have already been flown home.
Tributes to the men continued to come in today, but some family members said they were unhappy with the way they had heard the news of the tragedy. Brogan Taylor, 18, lost her father Leslie, 41. She said she learned about his death through a family friend. She called for a thorough inquiry to ensure no other families had to endure what she had.
Meanwhile, recovery vessel Vigilante, chartered by Air Accident investigators, arrived at the crash site this morning. It was carrying specialist sonar equipment to locate the wreckage and remove it from the seabed. A spokeswoman for the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), which has 13 staff working on the case, said investigations were continuing at the scene.
They will spend the next few days taking statements from those who heard or saw the accident, including those aboard the Normand Aurora, which was three miles from the scene of the crash. They will be helped by video footage taken by RAF rescue helicopters which has been handed over to Grampian Police. Investigators will also visit the Miller platform.
Yesterday, police named 15 of the men who died. Expro North Sea, PSN and Sparrows Offshore each employed one of them. The two crew were employed by Bond and 10 of the workers were KCA Deutag staff. The other passenger is thought to be from Latvia and another KCA Deutag employee, although his family are still being located.
Ian Morrison, 45, who works for KCA Deutag, returned to Aberdeen last night. He told today how he had intended to take the fatal flight home but stayed on the Miller platform for an extra 24 hours to cover a shift.
He said: "Some of the personnel, like drilling, are being down manned. There's a general consensus that there is no way the guys are going to be able to focus on their work.
"Morale on the platform has obviously been hit hard. In think there is just a general feeling of devastation, and I think people realise how easily it could have been them. A lot of guys felt there was no way they could go out and work again so quickly because so many of them had connections with the guys."
He said he had previously flown on the helicopter which crashed and should have been on it on the night it crashed 14 miles northeast of Peterhead. He decided to stay on board the rig just over an hour before the helicopter began its journey back to Aberdeen.
"Those guys were all my crew and I should have been on that chopper as well," he said. "I was asked about an hour and a half before the flight took off if I would be prepared to stay on for another shift.
"My name was at one point on that list, and I feel extremely fortunate I was asked to stay. I remember thinking it would be good to get back home, but for some reason I thought I would stay and do the extra work."
Mr Morrison said he had already received some counselling but was finding it hard to sleep.