'I'd better call the office' – helicopter pilot's first words to rescue team

Published on Friday 20 February 2009 20:55

ONE of the two pilots who saved the lives of 16 oilmen in the dramatic North Sea helicopter ditching calmly told his rescuers: "I'd better call the office."

Captain Mike Tweedie was one of the two-man crew of Bond Helicopters' Super Puma EC225, which ditched in dense fog and pitch darkness, 500 metres off an installation in the North Sea on Wednesday night.

After the ditching, all 18 men on board scrambled into the helicopter's life rafts and were picked up by the crew of a high-speed support vessel and a search-and-rescue helicopter.

They escaped with minor injuries in the incident, which happened near BP's Eastern Trough Area Project platform, 125 miles east of Aberdeen.

Fifteen of the survivors, including Capt Tweedie, were taken on board the support vessel Caledonian Victory, while the other three passengers were winched to safety by a civilian helicopter.

Steve Roberts, captain of the Caledonian Victory, told yesterday how Capt Tweedie's first concern after his rescue was to phone his bosses at Bond and inform them that one of their helicopters had been lost.

He said: "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 telephoned his wife and we gave him a strong cup of coffee."

Mr Roberts said Capt Tweedie was the last person to be rescued from one of the two life rafts.

He and the 14 other men, including the Super Puma's co-pilot, were taken to a reception facility designed for the survivors of such emergencies in the North Sea.

Mr Roberts added: "They all walked out looking glad to be back on relatively dry land. There were no injuries at all and they were all looking quite cheerful having survived the ordeal."

Mr Tweedie lives in Monymusk, Aberdeenshire, and a member of his family said last night: "He doesn't want to make any comment.

"Obviously, everything is being investigated at the moment and it is not for us to say anything."

Keith Bill, a spokesman for the British Airline Pilots' Association (Balpa), confirmed that Capt Tweedie was a member and said: "The ditching of the AS225 Super Puma shows why putting safety at the heart of aviation is not an optional extra. While Balpa will await the report from air accident investigators before commenting – and speculation before then is unhelpful – there is little doubt that the professionalism of the crew and the training of the passengers saved lives.

"The North Sea can be a dangerous place at the best of times and the poor weather increased that."

Mr Bill added: "They (the passengers] would have been brief-ed on what to do in this sit-uation immediately before take-off and would have been required to watch a detailed video within 24 hours of the flight."

He said the aircraft equipment also performed as expected, "evidenced by the fact that the aircraft stayed afloat and upright and the life rafts were both deployed and used".

Jim McAuslan, the general secretary of Balpa, said: "The industry works together to make the inhospitable North Sea as safe as possible. (Wednesday's] avoidance of fatalities shows that investing in safety pays off.

"This is something we in aviation have to constantly work at so the public can travel safely. It should be a reminder to us all to make sure we take in those pre-flight briefings."

Efforts continued yesterday at the scene of the accident to try to recover the wreckage of the downed helicopter. The fuselage has turned turtle, which has hampered the recovery operation.