First Minister Alex Salmond paid tribute to the emergency services after yesterday’s dramatic sea rescue.
“Once again, the response to this incident by our emergency services was fantastic and their continued bravery and expertise will bring great reassurance to every offshore worker who is required to use helicopters in challenging conditions regularly,” he said.
“Although incidents such as this are mercifully rare they do raise understandable concerns and I hope that the inquiry that will inevitably follow this gets to the facts quickly in order that any lessons that are needed are learned.”
Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald – who represents the north-east – added: “My thoughts are with the passengers and crew of the helicopter involved in today’s incident, as well as their families.
“The fact that all of those on board have been rescued safely does not mean that helicopter operators or the oil industry should take it any less seriously.
“This is a reminder of just how hazardous it is to work on offshore platforms and installations in the North Sea and it is imperative that companies operating helicopter flights around the world take on board lessons from previous disasters and incidents.
“The safety of our workers is paramount, and if these helicopters have to be grounded while the Air Accident Investigation Branch does its job, then so be it. Safety comes first.
“One helicopter ditching in the North Sea is one helicopter too many.”
Aviation writer Jim Ferguson agreed.
He said: “Two EC225 ditchings is at least two too many, so I feel it time that the manufacturer sends a high-powered engineering team to Aberdeen to explain to the offshore workforce just what went wrong in this latest case and, somewhat more importantly, what Eurocopter are planning to do to fix it.”
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