Inquiry: Seventeen died in helicopter crash east of Newfoundland

A12

Ken Meaney
Canwest News Service

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

The lone survivor of a helicopter crash off Newfoundland last March said Thursday he doesn't know the answer to the question so many have been asking - why he survived when 17 others did not.

Enlarge Photo

The Canadian Press

Robert Decker, the lone survivor of a helicopter crash that killed 17 people off Newfoundland's east coast in March, arrives at the inquiry into the incident in St. John's, N.L., on Thursday.

"There probably is no reason - just luck," Robert Decker told an inquiry into offshore safety in St. John's, N.L.

In testimony given in a calm, clear voice, Decker - who will never fly offshore again - said he lost consciousness when the aircraft crashed to the ocean and came to as it plummeted to the sea floor.

Decker said it was dark in the crumpled cabin, but he could see by the light of his survival suit. The helicopter had quickly filled with sea water and was on its side, "sinking the same way it (had dropped) from the sky."

"There was a lot of pressure in the helicopter because water was rushing through it," he said, but he managed to undo his seatbelt and pull himself through his window, which was broken by the impact and, with the chopper on its side, directly over his head.

"Then it was a long ascent to the surface. I didn't know how deep the helicopter was . . . I could look up and see it was getting brighter and brighter and eventually when my arms broke the surface, I could tell I had survived."

The 28-year-old Newfoundlander also described his long wait alone on the surface - suit leaking, hands frozen - trying to remain calm as the seas beat over him and his body grew colder, his vision eventually fading almost to blindness.

A search plane circled overhead, he said, and later a helicopter arrived and a basket was lowered. Decker was unable to get in, though, and a rescuer was lowered to his side.

Clinging to the man's shoulder, Decker pleaded: "Please don't leave me."

A tall, trim man with close-cropped dark hair, Decker spoke publicly for the first time Thursday since the Cougar Helicopters Sikorsky S-92 aircraft crashed and sank east of Newfoundland on March 12, 2009. The chopper had lost oil pressure in its main gearbox and was making an emergency return to St. John's airport.

Seventeen people died in the crash, which was heading to the Hibernia and White Rose oilfields when it ran into trouble.

The body of Allison Maher was recovered on the surface. The bodies of the 16 others were recovered from the floor of the Atlantic and returned to their grieving families in a painstaking operation over the following days.

In a statement he read after his testimony, Decker said his survival may have come down to luck.

"Also, when I regained consciousness in the submerged helicopter cabin I know that I stayed calm and I didn't panic. I was able to concentrate on getting out of the helicopter and to the surface as quickly as possible . . . It was like a reflex to take a breath and to hold it and to stay calm until I could get to the surface."

In his opening testimony, Decker, a weather and ice observer for Provincial Aerospace who had made 50 previous helicopter trips to the rigs some 350 kilometres east of St. John's, said there was nothing unusual about the day of the crash.

"It was a nice, clear, sunny day . . . light winds. Everything seemed like a regular day," said Decker, who testified he was not supposed to have taken the flight on March 12, but got a call the night before asking him if he could fly then instead of the following day.

Decker said he has no recollection of hitting the water, but that the helicopter rotors were still turning.

When he got to the surface, he could see debris and the helicopter's life-rafts, but no other survivors.

Decker said in his statement he will never fly offshore again.

"But others continue to do it every day and they deserve to be able to do it safely. Training to escape from a crashed helicopter is important. Having the survival suits is important and having search and rescue capacity nearby is important. But all those things are what's needed after there has been a crash into the ocean. If we really want to make offshore helicopter travel safe what we have to do is make sure that every helicopter doesn't crash. The best way to keep every offshore worker safe is to keep every helicopter in the air where it belongs. Safety starts with the helicopter and I think everything else is secondary."