Puma's were always distrusted, particularly after the Tiger variant ditched off the Cormorant Alpha. I was close by on
I do wish people would us the word "ditched" correctly.
The Tiger (AS322L) off of Cormorant Alpha was flown into the sea and therefore "crashed". It was pilot error and nothing to do with the aircraft. The aircraft did what the pilot asked it to do.
The press often use "ditched" when in fact the aircraft "crashed".
The two EC225s that lost lubrication to the MGB and conducted a precautionary water landing "ditched". All of the other recent helicopters in the North Sea "crashed"
Just because water is where the aircraft ended up is no reason to use the word ditched.
P3