Black box flight recorder recovered from wreckage of crash helicopter

The helicopter plunged into the sea as it approached Sumburgh airport on the southern tip of Shetland last Friday, killing three men and one woman.

The search for the data recorder had been described as challenging owing to the “nature of the environment” where the wreckage was located.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said the recorder would now be transported to its HQ in Farnborough, Hampshire.

The AAIB said it had not identified the cause of the crash in a statement released earlier yesterday.

Early indications show the flight approach of the AS332 L2 Super Puma was normal until three miles from the airport runway and it crashed into the sea two miles west of runway 09 when airspeed dropped along with an “increased rate of descent”, the AAIB said.

“The evidence currently available suggests that the helicopter was intact and upright when it entered the water,” a statement said. “It then rapidly inverted and drifted northwards towards Garths Ness.

“The helicopter was largely broken up by repeated contact with the rocky shoreline.

“Some items of wreckage have already been recovered and will be transported to the AAIB’s HQ in Farnborough.”

It is hoped that the flight data recorder will shed light on what caused the helicopter to come down.

Representatives from the French accident investigation authority (BEA), the helicopter manufacturer and the engine manufacturer were also invited to join the investigation by the AAIB.

The offshore industry’s helicopter safety steering group has been reviewing the suspension of Super Puma flights introduced after the crash.

Representatives from operators, trade unions and regulators gathered in Aberdeen yesterday to discuss the issue after a meeting on Wednesday failed to reach a decision on when the helicopters could return to the skies.