Incident Overview
A helicopter pilot conducted a landing on an offshore helideck that already had one parked aircraft. After all passengers had disembarked and cleared the area, the pilot initiated a hover takeoff. While hovering, the helicopter drifted slightly, causing one skid to strike a hatch cover that protruded 8.5 feet above the helideck surface. The hatch cover was located approximately 3.5 feet inward from the deck edge.
Dynamic Rollover and Crash
The impact with the hatch cover caused the helicopter to pivot around the contact point, initiating a dynamic rollover. The aircraft subsequently rolled off the helideck and crashed onto a lower level of the oil rig. No further details about the aircraft, occupants, or injuries were provided in the source material.
Operational Context
The helideck had one aircraft already parked on it at the time of landing. The protruding hatch cover was a fixed structure on the deck, and the pilot allowed the helicopter to drift during the hover, leading to the skid strike. The sequence of events—drift, contact, pivot, and dynamic rollover—resulted in the aircraft departing the deck and impacting the rig's lower level.