Helicopter down - North Sea Dutch sector
 

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/...pter_Crash.php

"THE HAGUE, Netherlands: A helicopter believed to be carrying 17 people crashed into the North Sea near the Dutch port of Den Helder late Tuesday night, national broadcaster NOS reported.

Rescue workers pulled 10 people out of the water, the NOS reported. Their condition was not immediately known.

Coast guards were searching for survivors. No further details were immediately available."

It was britows puma G-JSAR with 17 pob. everybody rescued.

From
AP World News

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- A helicopter carrying 17 people crashed into the North Sea near the Dutch port of Den Helder Tuesday night and all 17 people aboard were rescued, the Coast Guard said.

The search and rescue helicopter, a twin-engined Super Puma, crashed into the sea about 15 miles northwest of Den Helder after reporting engine trouble, said Dutch Coast Guard spokesman Frank de Ridder.


All safe, empty boat on the Styx tonight. A big Thanks to all the safety equipment we carry "just in case". I wonder about the engine problem. It shouldn't have ditched if at least one was working.

charron

I'm glad they are all ok. :ok:

Glad to hear that everyone came out alive:) ...looking forward to finding out the cause of the accident.(For the right reasons)

All safe, empty boat on the Styx tonight
 

What a delicious turn of phrase Charron! We have a Styx river here in Oz, I flew over it on one of our trips to Queensland, then I turned around & flew back the other way 'cause I didn't want to take no one way ride over the Styx.

Glad to hear all 17 souls accounted for!

Glad to hear they are all ok. Just out of interest, why 17 pob? Had they been on a job?

Cyclic,

Yes, BBC are reporting that it was carrying workers for a North Sea Oil Platform that had suffered a Power Failure.

This was not a crash, every time an aircraft lands "out of sequence" it has to be a crash. Why?

This was a controlled ditching following engine "problems" followed by flight control "problems". The helicopter is on the beach (yes beach) so no doubt these problems will, we hope will be found and sorted so all the other L2 drivers can sleep well at night again.

As well as being the SAR helicopter it also does the night standby cover for the oil patch. Which was the reason for last night's flight.

As reported previously, all are well.

check,

I am not doubting your info, but BBC News are reporting that it ditched 15 miles off of the coast.

Thanks for the update. I have a special interest as the one I fly looks very similar to yours!

HeliEng,

You are correct, it ditched about 25km from Den Helder and is I believe on the beach at Texel. The heli remained afloat, how it made it to the beach I'm not sure. My guess it was towed.

Sounds like a fab job done by the crew. Congrats all round!!!

Well it proves all the survival coourses we go on are money well spent! I am a contractor for AMEC and we have to pay £600 every 2 years for the ticket. I wont be moaning next time i pay it:ok: Am i correct in thinking the Choppers have emergency floatation systems? If so were they deployed?

pistongone,

They certainly are equipped with flotation systems. If the aircraft ditched 15 miles offshore and made it to the beach, I would think it would be fairly safe to assume they were deployed.

Pistongone

If you are flying out of Humberside with CHC it will be in a S76C or Dauphine 365N2 not a Puma 332L2 (we have floats as well:) )

HF

(Well done to the G-JSAR crew)

Hummingfrog, do you fly from Humberside? I am going back out in a few days. But it's only to Rough Bravo so 20 mins:ok: Does the S76C have floatation systems?

No pictures??

Here it is, after being washed ashore on the island of Texel:

http://www.texel-plaza.nl/nieuws/afb...kopter2net.jpg

Here's another picture:

http://www.nhd.nl/multimedia/archive...01_188020c.jpg

http://www.nhd.nl/nieuws/stadstreek/...cle1173630.ece

According to another pressrelease, a coastguard boat followed the abandoned helicopter a while, but a soon as the floating machine reaches shallow waters, this was not possible anymore. So the H/C finally reached the beach on its own.