BOND Offshore Helicopters’ aircraft are back in the skies – just days after flight 85N crashed in the North Sea.
A single flight took off from Aberdeen Airport, bound for an oil field.
It was the same model of aircraft as the one involved in the crash which claimed the lives of 16 men.
Additional flights were expected to be carried out over the weekend while bosses discuss resuming normal service with its clients including BP.
The first Super Puma AS332 L2 flight took off from the airport early yesterday afternoon and carried workers from Aberdeen-based Wood Group Engineering to the Chestnut Field.
Chestnut is one of the smallest and oldest undeveloped stand-alone oilfield developments in the North Sea.
It lies about 180 miles east of Aberdeen and its main operator is Aberdeen-based Venture Production.
A spokesman for the helicopter firm said: “Bond Offshore Helicopters has resumed crew-change services with a Super Puma AS332 L2 this afternoon to the Chestnut Field on behalf of Wood Group Engineering (North Sea).
“Bond is liaising with other clients on the resumption of normal services. Ad hoc flights are also expected to take place this weekend.”
The move came after Bond suspended all its North Sea helicopter operations after Wednesday’s horrific accident.
BP had already taken the decision to discontinue passenger flights to give the helicopter firm’s employees “time to reflect” on the loss of two colleagues.
Meanwhile, a North-east pilot today said workers had nothing to fear from flying in Super Pumas.
The helicopter captain insisted the type of aircraft involved in the North Sea tragedy had an excellent safety record.
Pilots were understandably shaken by the loss of their two colleagues who worked for Bond Offshore Helicopters, he said.
It was the second time in six weeks that a Super Puma had crashed into the North Sea.
Although two different versions of the Super Puma were involved in the accidents, questions have been asked about their reliability.
But the Aberdeenshire pilot, who did not want to be named, said: “We operate multi-million pound machines with a huge number of moving parts and – as with any piece of machinery – things can go wrong.
“But if I felt there was a problem with the Super Puma I wouldn’t fly.”
He added pilots had the greatest of respect for those tasked with uncovering what caused the terrible tragedy – and with doing everything in their power to prevent it from happening again.
He said: “The Air Accidents Investigation Branch is extremely efficient and thorough and if there is a problem they will find it and will rectify it.”
groberts@ajl.co.uk