HC Deb 21 July 1988 vol 137 cc777-8W
Dr. Godman

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what information he has about the reasons why assistance from a helicopter aboard the emergency support vessel Iolair was declined following the explosion on the Piper Alpha oil rig and as to how many minutes' flying time the Iolair helicopter was from the rig; if he will refer all the evidence available to his Department on this subject to the official inquiry investigating the disaster; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. David Mitchell

The search and rescue operation in response to the Piper Alpha disaster was initiated and co-ordinated by HM Coastguard, Aberdeen.

Although the Iolair helicopter is a declared SAR resource, because of its equipment at night it has only a limited capability and is available to become airborne only after 60 minutes notice. At the time of the disaster Iolair was 20 minutes helicopter flying time away from Piper Alpha. For these reasons and because other more capable aircraft were available, this helicopter was not summoned by HM Coastguard.

The first helicopter arrived on scene within 10 minutes of the disaster but because of the intense heat was unable to get close enough to be able to assist in the recovery of survivors from either the platform or the sea. This applied to all helicopters which arrived thereafter. There was no shortage of aircraft and steps had to be taken to ensure flight safety, but on this occasion helicopters could be used only to transfer survivors from rescue ships into hospital.

In the small and congested area of airspace involved in any disaster an excess of helicopters can constitute a flight safety hazard and be detrimental to the conduct of SAR operations.

For this reason many offers of helicopter assistance made after the initiation of SAR operations had to be declined because of airspace congestion. However, as far as is known, no specific offer of the Iolair aircraft was made to Aberdeen Coastguard.

Department of Transport records will be made available to the official inquiry as required.