Originally Posted by
HeliComparator
HSSG has just announced they are allowing all Super Puma variants back into the air for oil and gas support in the UK.
BBC News - Super Puma helicopter flights resume after Shetland crash
A meeting of industry representatives has recommended that Super Puma helicopters should be cleared to fly.
All offshore flights by the Super Puma had been suspended following the crash off Shetland last week which killed four oil workers.
The Helicopter Safety Steering Group (HSSG) said a campaign would be started to engage with the offshore workforce.
Earlier the missing flight data recorder the crashed helicopter was recovered.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said the combined voice and flight data recorder would be taken to its Farnborough headquarters for analysis.
The AAIB said the Super Puma had appeared to show a "reduction in airspeed accompanied by an increased rate of descent".
The AAIB said it appeared the helicopter had been intact and upright when it entered the water.
However, it was too early to identify a cause of the crash.
The AAIB update reported: "Preliminary information indicates that the approach proceeded normally until approximately three miles from the runway when there was a reduction in airspeed accompanied by an increased rate of descent.
"The helicopter struck the sea approximately two miles west of the runway threshold.
"The evidence currently available suggests that the helicopter was intact and upright when it entered the water.
"It then rapidly inverted and drifted northwards. The helicopter was largely broken up by repeated contact with the rocky shoreline.
"The investigation is ongoing and at this early stage it is not possible to identify the causal factors leading to the accident."
Heavy swell Much of the wreckage of the Super Puma has been brought ashore.
Key parts arrived at Lerwick at 04:30 on the support vessel Bibby Polaris.
Divers had known the rough location of the flight data recorder, but heavy swell hampered efforts to retrieve it.
Marine engineering company Ocean Kinetics, which is carrying out the recovery operation, had already recovered the helicopter's gearbox and rotor head.
Four people died when the Super Puma AS332 L2 went down close to shore on a flight to Shetland's Sumburgh Airport from the Borgsten Dolphin rig.
They were Duncan Munro, 46, from Bishop Auckland, Sarah Darnley, 45, from Elgin, Gary McCrossan, 59, from Inverness, and George Allison, 57, from Winchester.
The crash was the fifth incident involving Super Pumas in the North Sea since 2009.
Inquiry Aberdeen North MP Frank Doran has called for a public inquiry.
The Super Puma is said to make up about half of the UK offshore industry's 75-strong helicopter fleet.
Different aircraft models and alternative methods of transport, such as boats, are being used or looked at to transport people on and off North Sea platforms.
Aberdeen City Council has established a facility for people affected by the crash.
It said experienced staff at the Balgownie Lodge Support Centre will offer assistance to bereaved family members, survivors, friends and work colleagues.
Aberdeen Lord Provost George Adam said: "The tragedy which occurred last Friday was deeply shocking and has affected very many people, not just those directly associated with the energy industry but the people of Aberdeen, the wider north east and indeed across the UK.
"Our thoughts are with the families of those who have lost loved ones, with the survivors and their families, and with their friends and work colleagues too, who will all be trying to come to terms with what has happened."
The centre will remain open for three weeks.