A survivor of the helicopter crash that forced 18 oil workers into the North Sea has told of the ordeal for the first time.
Finlay McGregor revealed yesterday that there had been “an impact with something” seconds before the aircraft ditched in the icy water.
The 56-year-old welder, from Tain in Easter Ross, said there had been no warning from the pilot that the Super Puma was going down.
His revelations came as the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) sent extra men from London to begin recovery of the stricken aircraft, which went down 125 miles east of Aberdeen on Wednesday night.
The tail boom broke off during the ditching and is now missing. It contains both the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder – which are both vital to the AAIB’s investigation.
Speaking at his home yesterday, Mr McGregor said he thought “it was the end”.
However, there was no panic among the passengers when they realised water was coming into the aircraft.
Instead, they calmly opened the helicopter door and inflated the liferafts, before scrambling aboard them and awaiting the emergency services, he said.
Mr McGregor, of 61 Sea-forth Road, thanked the “unbelievable” rescuers and the crew of the Caledonia Victory, which took the survivors back to Aberdeen on Thursday.
Mr McGregor, a Trans-ocean employee who has worked offshore over 20 years, said the flight had been scheduled to leave at 9.45am on Wednesday but was delayed because of fog. He said he had been meant to fly out on Monday but called in sick with flu and switched his flight to Wednesday.
The helicopter was to stop first at a BP oil platform in the Etap field before continuing to Mr McGregor’s rig, Galaxy1, where he was to spend three weeks. He said the flight went well, although conditions were foggy.
“I was sitting at the door seat,” he said. “I could see the platform as we were coming in to land. I could see the glow of it through the fog because of the lights.
“We started descending through the fog. There was an impact with something. I have no idea what it was. The next thing I realised was that we were in the water.
“There was no warning from the pilot to say that we were ditching. The first we knew was the impact and the next we were in the sea.”
There was no panic and the men started putting on their hoods and gloves. They deployed the liferafts and the 18 men got on board.
Mr McGregor said: “At the impact, I thought ‘Oh my God, it’s the end’. But then I realised that the helicopter wasn’t sinking any more and the training came to me.
“Everyone was helping each other out and we got into the liferafts and away from the helicopter.”
Mr McGregor said he and the other men were “freezing” on the liferafts and some were sick following their experience and the large swell.
“It seemed like forever, waiting for rescue, and even when we did hear the helicopters it took a while for them to find us because of the fog,” he said.
The oilman had an emotional reunion with wife Nanette in Aberdeen after the survivors were brought back on the Caledonia Victory.
Mrs McGregor, 55, endured a frantic few hours trying to get information. Her worries were finally allayed when Mr McGregor phoned from the Caledonia Victory on the way back to Aberdeen.
“When he phoned, I was in bits,” she said. “I don’t want him to go on a helicopter again.”
Mr McGregor is now recovering from his ordeal and does not know when he will return offshore. He said he had been offered counselling by his employer to deal with any psychological effects of the incident.
He is also waiting to hear if his belongings, including his passport and a pair of reading glasses, would be recovered from the helicopter.
Another man on board the aircraft was Maltese national Keith Spiteri, who arrived back in Malta yesterday morning.
The 20-year-old said he did not want to discuss the accident, although his mother, Pauline, said the reality of what had happened had hit him.
“He is quite a quiet person and he doesn’t really want to talk about it,” she said.
Another three survivors – Richard Gauci, Emanuel Spiteri and Adrian Gomes – are also from Malta.
Thurso man Alisdair McLean was also on board and he thanked his rescuers when he got back to Aberdeen on Thursday.
Michael Tweedie, 48, of Monymusk, was at the controls of the Super Puma EC225 when the accident happened. It emerged last night he and his family had been coming to terms with the death of his son, Peter, 24, who died in October.
The AAIB, which now has a team of 11 working on the investigation, said it was unsure how long it would take to get the aircraft back to Aberdeen. It is understood that their first priority will be to recover the boom containing the flight recorders.