Helicopter forced to make emergency landing after overheating scare

A North Sea helicopter was forced into making an unscheduled landing on a Shell oil platform after an alarm in the cockpit was activated.

STV has learned that the Bristow-operated helicopter was forced into an emergency procedure on Monday morning after a warning light went off during the journey, indicating that the aircraft was overheating. Initial reports later suggested this was a false alarm.

Nobody was injured in the incident, which was the latest in a series of recent scares where crews have had to make emergency or unscheduled landings.

Jake Molloy, the RMT union's offshore organizer, stressed that the decision to land the craft on another rig was purely a precautionary measure.

Mr Molloy told STV: "It was a sensor which went off, indicating a problem in the tail rotor gearbox, but my understanding is that it was nothing out of the ordinary.

"It's regrettable when something like this happens, and it does cause temporary problems, but the companies all understand that safety is paramount.

"All of us are working to reduce these kind of incidents, but the main thing is that the sensors work and we have the procedures in place for when they go off, to ensure everybody's safe."