G-TIGK North Sea ditching
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| Summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | January 19, 1995 |
| Type | Lightning strike |
| Site | near the Brae oilfield in the North Sea |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Injuries | 0 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Super Puma helicopter |
| Operator | Bristow |
| Tail number | G-TIGK |
| Passengers | 16 |
| Crew | 2 |
| Survivors | 18 (all) |
The G-TIGK North Sea ditching was an incident with the Super Puma helicopter G-TIGK on January 19, 1995 in the North Sea. The flight was carrying 16 oil workers from Aberdeen to an oil platform at the Brae oilfield.
En route the helicopter ran into poor weather and was then struck by lightning. This caused severe damage to the tail rotor. Though the helicopter managed to limp for a few more minutes, the tail rotor eventually failed completely and the pilot was forced to turn off the main rotor and let the helicopter fall into the rough seas. Emergency floaters on the helicopter allowed the passengers and crew to be evacuated onto a life raft. In spite of the high waves and bad weather, all the people onboard the flight were rescued.
The lightning strike was an isolated one in the storm, and may have been induced by the helicopter flying through the cloud. The accident investigation also revealed potential troubles with the composite material with brass strip design of the rotors which made the rotorblades prone to explosion and damage from lightning strikes.
The incident was featured in the Air Crash Investigation episode "Helicopter Down".
[edit] References
- CAA progress report for 1998 (p. 29)
- CAA progress report for 1997 (p. 26)
