G-ASWI was a

Westland Wessex The Westland Wessex is a British-built turbine-powered development of the Sikorsky H-34 (in US service known as Choctaw). It was developed and produced under licence by Westland Aircraft (later Westland Helicopters). One of the main chang ...

60, operated by

Bristow Helicopters Bristow Helicopters Limited is a British civil helicopter operator originally based at Aberdeen Airport, Scotland, which is currently a part of the U.S.-based Bristow Group (, S&P 600 component) which in turn has its corporate headquarters in ...

operating between

Bacton Gas Terminal The Bacton Gas Terminal is a complex of six gas terminals within four sites located on the North Sea coast of North Norfolk in the United Kingdom. The sites are near Paston and between Bacton and Mundesley; the nearest town is North Walsham. ...

, in Norfolk, and Amoco gas platforms in the North Sea. On 13 August 1981 the

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

lost power to the main rotor gearbox, going out of control during the ensuing autorotation. The flight was carrying 11 gas workers from the

Leman gas field The Leman gas field is a natural gas field located in the North Sea.The field is north-east of Great Yarmouth and is named after the Leman Sandbank beneath which it is situated. The gas reservoir is an thick Rotliegendes sandstone reservoir at a ...

to Bacton. All people on board were lost.

Aircraft

G-ASWI had previously been the

Westland Helicopters Westland Helicopters was a British aircraft manufacturer. Originally Westland Aircraft, the company focused on helicopters after the Second World War. It was amalgamated with several other British firms in 1960 and 1961. In 2000, it merged ...

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 The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

Search and Rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

Westland Sea King The Westland WS-61 Sea King is a British licence-built version of the American Sikorsky S-61 helicopter of the same name, built by Westland Helicopters. The aircraft differs considerably from the American version, with Rolls-Royce Gnome engi ...

left

RAF Coltishall Royal Air Force Coltishall, more commonly known as RAF Coltishall , is a former Royal Air Force station located North-North-East of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia, which operated from 1938 to 2006. It was a fighter airf ...

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 The open verdict is an option open to a coroner's jury at an inquest in the legal system of England and Wales. The verdict means the jury confirms the death is suspicious, but is unable to reach any other verdicts open to them. Mortality studies c ...

Memorial

On 13 August 2014, a memorial to those killed in the crash was unveiled at

Great Yarmouth Minster The Minster Church of St Nicholas is the minster and parish church of the town of Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk, England. It was built during the Norman era and is England's third largest parish church, behind Beverley Minster in East Yorkshire ...

. A major article on the ongoing effects of the crash was published in the

Eastern Daily Press The ''Eastern Daily Press'' (''EDP'') is a regional newspaper covering Norfolk, northern parts of Suffolk and eastern Cambridgeshire, and is published daily in Norwich, UK. Founded in 1870 as a broadsheet called the ''Eastern Counties Daily P ...

in September 2014.

References

Report No: 4/1983. Report on the accident to Westland Wessex 60, G-ASWI, 12 miles ENE of Bacton, Norfolk on 13 August 1981

4/1983 Westland Wessex 60, G-ASWI Appendices {{DEFAULTSORT:Bristow Helicopters Westland Wessex crash Aviation accidents and incidents in England Aviation accidents and incidents in 1981 1981 in England Airliner accidents and incidents with an unknown cause Aviation accidents and incidents in the North Sea Accidents and incidents involving helicopters Bristow Helicopters accidents and incidents August 1981 events in the United Kingdom

Aircraft

Accident and outcomes

Memorial

See also

References