Pilot: My world ended with fatal helicopter crash
Traumatised flier tells of deaths hell
A PILOT has told a Fatal Accident Inquiry his “world ended” when the helicopter he was flying crashed into the North Sea, killing four people.
Martin Miglans said he struggles to remember immediately prior to the crash until the “horror and shock of seeing the sea”.
Martin, his co-pilot and 12 other passengers survived when the Super Puma ditched on its approach to Sumburgh Airport, Shetland, in 2013.
Sarah Darnley, 45, of Elgin; Gary McCrossan, 59, of Inverness; Duncan Munro, 46, of Bishop Auckland, County Durham, and George
Allison, 57, of Winchester, died in the incident.
The FAI, which is being held virtually, heard from Martin’s statement, in which he said: “It has destroyed my head. My world ended with that crash.” He added: “The “cockpit filling with water catches me everyday.”
He said he has no memory of speaking on a recording recovered from the aircraft, even after hearing it, saying he experiences “complete dissociation” from it.
“I just remember coming out of the cloud and there being water and that is it.
“It is wrong and I am pulling as hard as I can... it is all lost by then.”
He added: “That is my nightmare to this day. I didn’t understand how it could have happened.”
Martin said he cannot remember check-height alerts prior to the crash, only the “horror and shock of seeing the sea”.
The pilot said he suffered a fractured spine, now walks on crutches and will never fly again. He also wrote that he has been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.
The inquiry also heard from Philip Sleight, deputy chief inspector of the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB). He read parts of a report, published in 2016, which found the pilots failed to properly monitor flight instruments and failed to notice their airspeed was decreasing until it was too late.
No mechanical fault was discovered with the helicopter.