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1981 Bristow Helicopters Westland Wessex crash

1981 helicopter accident

Field	Value
image	Westland Wessex 60 G-ATBZ Bristow N.Denes 07.06.70 edited-2.jpg
caption	A Bristow Westland Wessex 60 of the same type as G-ASWI
Date	13 August 1981
Type	Loss of power
occurrence_type	Accident
Site	Near 12 miles ENE of Bacton, Norfolk in the North Sea
Coordinates
mapframe-zoom	7
Fatalities	13
Survivors	0
aircraft_type	Westland Wessex
Operator	Bristow Helicopters
tail_number	G-ASWI
Occupants	13
Passengers	11
Crew	2

| mapframe-zoom = 7 On 13 August 1981, a Westland Wessex 60 was operated by Bristow Helicopters between the Bacton Gas Terminal in Norfolk and Amoco gas platforms in the North Sea. During the flight, the helicopter lost power to the main rotor gearbox, going out of control during the ensuing autorotation and crashing into the North Sea. The flight was carrying 11 gas workers from the Leman gas field to Bacton. All 13 people on board died.

Aircraft

G-ASWI had previously been the Westland Helicopters Company demonstrator before being purchased by Bristow Helicopters Ltd. in April 1970.

Accident and outcomes

G-ASWI left the North Denes airfield at 13:47 on Thursday 13 August 1981 on a routine passenger and freight flight between rigs on the Leman and Indefatigable gas fields. The crew consisted of a pilot and a cabin attendant.

At 15:41, returning from the Leman field to the landing site at Bacton, the commander, Ben Breach, sent a distress message reporting that he was ditching due to engine failure. Radar lost the aircraft three seconds later. A Royal Air Force Search and Rescue Westland Sea King left RAF Coltishall at 15:47, sighting floating wreckage from G-ASWI at 15:57. There were no survivors.

Efforts to recover the wreck were delayed, meaning that the wreck was beyond recovery by the time salvage operations started. There was insufficient evidence to explain either the loss of power or loss of control that caused the aircraft to crash. The inquest into the deaths of those on board recorded an open verdict.

Memorial

On 13 August 2014, a memorial to those killed in the crash was unveiled at Great Yarmouth Minster. A major article on the ongoing effects of the crash was published in the Eastern Daily Press in September 2014.

References

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources/4-1983%20G-ASWI.pdf Report No: 4/1983. Report on the accident to Westland Wessex 60, G-ASWI, 12 miles ENE of Bacton, Norfolk on 13 August 1981
http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources/4%2D1983%20G%2DASWI%20Append%2Epdf 4/1983 Westland Wessex 60, G-ASWI Appendices

References

(20 September 1968). "Photograph of G-ASWI as Westland demonstrator aircraft". Airliners.net.
(18 May 2003). "Photograph of G-ASWI in modified AMOCO livery". Airliners.net.
"G-ASWI registration record".
(13 August 1981). "Wessex Crash, Norfolk 1981 (archive)". Pprune.org.
(18 July 2002). "Crash Investigators' arduous task, BBC, 2002". BBC News.
"Flightglobal Archive 1". Flight International.
"(posts 287, 288)". PPRuNe.
(5 December 1981). "Flightglobal Archive 2". Flight International.
"Flightglobal Archive 3". Flight International.
(14 August 2014). "Memorial stone is unveiled to commemorate helicopter tragedy that ended the life of eight people from Norfolk". Eastern Daily Press.
(15 September 2014). "Helicopter crash left families without fathers, sons, brothers and husbands". Eastern Daily Press.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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