Oil flight crashes through the years

1986

45 people die when Chinook crashes into the sea near to Sumburgh airport on Shetland.

1988

A Sikorsky helicopter ditches in the North Sea enroute from a drilling rig but all 13 passengers and crew rescued safely.

1990

Six men die when a Sikorsky helicopter strikes the Brent Spar oil storage platform in the North Sea.

1992

11 men killed when a helicopter crashes into the North Sea during a routine 200-yard flight taking workers from Shell’s Cormorant Alpha rig to an accommodation barge nearby.

1995

Helicopter travelling from Aberdeen to the Brae Field, 150 miles off the coast, hit by bolt of lightning but all 18 men on board survive unhurt.

2009

In February of this year a Bond Super Puma with 18 people on board ditches in the North Sea as it approached a production platform. Everyone survives.

2009

Six weeks later two crew and 14 passengers on board a Super Puma helicopter die after a “catastrophic failure” of the gearbox causes it to plunge into the sea 11 miles off the coast of Peterhead.

2012

14 people are rescued when a Super Puma EC 225 ditches off the coast of Aberdeen in May of this year.

2012

Five months later 19 people are rescued after the same model of helicopter experiences difficulty off the coast of Shetland.

2013

Four people die and 14 survive as a Super Puma L2 helicopter ditches into the sea two miles west of Sumburgh airport on Shetland.