Not being one to offer up conjecture on things i was not present at.....I cannot resist doing so on this one based upon the FAA report quoted by Mars.
Based upon my experience with some GOM pilots at other places in the World other than the GOM....I noticed there seemed to be quite a number of ways to arrive at a Rig Deck that had a potential for calamity if one or both of the engines died on a Twin.
One of the approaches I saw used was explained as being one where Inertia and Momentum would be traded for RPM....what I saw as flat, fast, with sudden decal and flop on the deck method. We usually only did one of those unless the other guy was happy to fly Solo in a Two Crew operation.
I somehow wonder if that might have been in vogue at RDC recently.
Also...one can ponder the image of a 76B with a Pilot (maybe two) and six passengers (even Bubba's with Bubba Baggage) having serious problems coping with a single engine landing on a Rig Deck provided the angle of the dangle being remotely acute.
After all....don't most GOM Pilots have an aversion to bathing in salt water? (Most seem to have such aversions from fresh soapy water too.)
Thus, I would have assumed a "hard landing" on the Rig Deck would beat the heck out of needing to take up the water taxi business.
The real question begged....is where the hell was he going to water taxi to...and for what reason? Surely, the coffee on the rig was better than the beach at Florbama....despite there being far fewer Double Breasted Bubbie Birds on the Rig than at the beach there in Florbama.
The transition from the Little Ship Table to the Big Ship Table must be a lot easier than in the past!