The investigation into the ditching of a Bond helicopter in the North Sea will start in earnest today.
The £17.6million Super Puma was brought ashore yesterday by diving support vessel Seven Pelican.
It will be taken by road to Farnbourgh in Hampshire where the Air Accident Investigation Branch will carry out a detailed “root cause” probe.
The three-year-old EC225 aircraft – carrying two crew and 12 offshore workers – came down 25 miles east of Aberdeen shortly after midday on Thursday.
The men were all rescued and the pilots have been hailed as heroes for managing to complete a tricky sea landing manoeuvre and save the lives of everyone on board.
They took the decision to ditch when an oil pressure warning light came on.
It was the third serious incident involving a Bond Super Puma in the North Sea in the last three years.
All the operator’s EC225 choppers have been grounded until further notice. Flights will restart after the company has completed a “detailed analysis” of Thursday’s incident.
Last night, Bond spokesman Stephen Ballard said it was too early to say what had caused the problem with the aircraft.
He said: “The helicopter has been returned. It was safely hoisted on to a ship which arrived at Peterhead harbour at about 2pm.
“The AAIB will now take over the investigation.
“The helicopter has been removed for analysis. They are doing a root cause analysis to determine what the cause of this oil warning light was. It could be something as simple as a failure in the light, or it could be an oil leak somewhere.”
Air Accident Investigation Branch investigators have travelled to Aberdeen to start their inquiry. It is understood the pilots and passengers will all be interviewed.
An AAIB spokeswoman said: “We have deployed a team of inspectors to conduct a preliminary inquiry to establish the facts.”
Experts from Super Puma manufacturer Eurocopter will also be involved in the inquiry.
As well as routine offshore flights, Bond also provides air ambulance helicopter services, police and marine support and energy support services in the North Sea.
A major rescue operation was launched after the alarm was raised shortly after noon on Thursday.
Coastguard and RAF helicopters were scrambled and Aberdeen and Peterhead RNLI lifeboats launched. The helicopter remained floating upright after it hit the water and all the men were able to get on to a liferaft.
Nine were flown to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, while the remaining five were taken ashore by lifeboat. One man was kept in hospital for observation. The helicopter had been on its way from Aberdeen to Conoco’s Jasmine field.