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Rescued pilot called office first
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The pilot of a helicopter carrying 18 people which ditched in the North Sea wanted to call his office as soon as he was rescued, it was revealed.
Michael Tweedie asked his rescuers for his employers' telephone number so he could let them know what had happened to the aircraft, the Aberdeen Evening Express reported.
Mr Tweedie, one other crew member and 16 passengers were plucked to safety from life-rafts after the Super Puma ditched near a BP installation around 125 miles east of Aberdeen on Wednesday night.
People on the installation raised the alarm after they saw the aircraft hit the water around 550 yards from the Etap oil and gas production platform.
Attempts to recover the helicopter, owned by Bond, began on Thursday but were called off as darkness fell and it was tethered to the regional support vessel Caledonian Vision overnight. It was expected that the Super Puma will be lifted on to a BP support vessel, which will return it to the mainland.
Steve Roberts, captain of the ship Caledonia Victory, which brought some of the survivors back to Aberdeen Harbour, told the Evening Express of Mr Tweedie's reaction.
Mr Roberts said: "His first thought was to phone Bond and let them know he had lost his helicopter. He wanted the phone number for Bond to explain that one of their helicopters wasn't going to be working and we said 'Have you phoned your wife?' He said 'I haven't actually'. So we made sure he phoned his wife and gave him a strong cup of coffee."
BP has suspended using Super Puma helicopters from operator Bond Offshore for North Sea flights. The company said it had decided to temporarily stop using that type of helicopter on flights from Aberdeen "as a precaution".
A BP spokesman said the company would review the use of Super Puma Bond helicopters in the next day or so.
A spokesman for Bond said that, after the ditching of the EC225 helicopter, its other two helicopters of that type were checked and remained operational. An investigation is under way to establish what caused the accident.
