Pilot in crash missed a final prompt when helicopter ‘recoverable’: FAI

The pilot of a helicopter which ditched into the sea with the loss of four lives missed a final prompt which could have saved the aircraft from crashing, an inquiry has heard.

An Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) inspector said the helicopter may have been “recoverable” when the commander was told it was at 400ft and she could not explain why he did not take action as standard operating procedures stipulated.

Two crew members and 12 passengers on the Super Puma L2 survived when it ditched on its approach to Sumburgh Airport in Shetland on August 23 2013. But Sarah Darnley, 45, Gary McCrossan, 59, Duncan Munro, 46, and George Allison, 57, died.

The inquiry heard that when the co-pilot gave the pilot flying the aircraft the prompt “100 to go” as they approached Sumburgh, which meant the helicopter was 400ft above the sea, he replied “Roger” instead of “levelling” as expected.

Martin Richardson QC, leading the inquiry for the Crown, asked what significance the AAIB attaches to the response to the “100 to go” prompt.

Alison Campbell, a senior inspector with the AAIB, replied: “There are two significant factors to that ‘100 to go’.

“The first is that at 100 to go the company’s standard operating procedures were for the commander to answer ‘levelling’ and secondly for the commander who was the pilot flying to begin to level the helicopter. “Neither of those occurred. “The reason that is significant is that was probably the last prompt they had through standard operating procedures.”

She added: “I can’t be certain but from that point it was possible that the helicopter was recoverable.”

The FAI before Sheriff Principal Pyle continues.

PA. Picture: Wreckage of the Super Puma L2 helicopter which went down in the sea with the loss of four lives in 2013.