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Offshore Helicopter Services (OHS), previously known as Babcock MCS Offshore and Bond Offshore Helicopters, is a British helicopter operator, specialising in providing offshore helicopter transportation services to
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
offshore platforms OHS operates a mixed fleet of helicopters on behalf of a small number of energy industry customers. Annually they transport around 200,000 passengers to and from offshore oil and gas platforms from bases at Aberdeen and Sumburgh airports. OHS also operates two specialist Search and Rescue (SAR) aircraft to support the Oil and Gas industry. These two AW139 helicopters are based at Aberdeen airport and equipped with specialist search and rescue equipment and provide 24-hour SAR coverage for the central North Sea. Bond Offshore Helicopters became a
Babcock International Group Babcock International Group plc is a British aerospace, defence and nuclear engineering services company based in London, England. It specialises in managing complex assets and infrastructure. Although the company has civil contracts, its main b ...
company when Babcock acquired the Avincis group in May 2014. In September 2021, Babcock sold its oil and gas aviation business to CHC Group. CHC were instructed to divest OHS following a UK Competitions and Markets Authority investigation into the purchase & proposed merger of the two UK companies. The company was subsequently sold to the owner of South African aviation company Ultimate Aviation.


History

David Bond (1920–1977), founder of the Bond company, was a wartime Lancaster pilot (90 Squadron) who set up his own company in 1946 and flew
Auster Auster may refer to: Places * Auster Glacier, located in East Antarctica * Auster Islands, East Antarctica * Auster Pass, located in East Antarctica * Auster Point, located in West Antarctica Other uses * Auster Aircraft, a former British air ...
s, Lancastrians and Halifaxes for air taxis and charter work. He switched to helicopters in 1953 and was involved in crop-spraying in Jamaica and Honduras, surveying in Algeria, and flying for Marley Tiles before launching the company which was to become Bond Aviation.


1960s–1970s

David Bond founded Management Aviation, in 1961 to operate Hiller 12E
helicopters 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 ...
near
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
for commercial services (mostly crop spraying) in the UK. By 1972 the company had entered the North Sea market, and introduced the world's first light twin-engined helicopter, Bolkow 105, in support of North Sea and Lighthouse Operations. These were supplemented by Aérospatiale SA 365 Dauphin 2 flying from Bacton and Theddlethorpe. Additional operational bases at
Kirmington Kirmington is a village in North Lincolnshire, England. It is part of the Civil parishes in England, civil parish of Kirmington and Croxton. From the 2011 census the village became a civil parish in its own name. Kirmington is situated just nor ...
and ex-RAF Strubby began in 1975. In 1977, Steven Bond, son of David, became managing director for the Bond company when David died and by 1979 the Bond company expanded their North Sea market with medium and heavy category S-58T and S-61N helicopters.


1980s–2000

Management Aviation provided services to
Eon Productions Eon Productions Limited is a British film production company that primarily produces the ''James Bond'' film series. The company is based in London's Piccadilly and also operates from Pinewood Studios in the UK. ''James Bond'' films Eon wa ...
for the films '' For Your Eyes Only'' and ''
Octopussy ''Octopussy'' is a 1983 spy film and the thirteenth in the List of James Bond films, ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions. It is the sixth to star Roger Moore as the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6 agent James Bond filmography, J ...
'', leading to scenes where actor
Walter Gotell Walter Jack Gotell (born Walter Jacques Goettel; 15 March 1924 – 5 May 1997) was a German-born British actor. He was well known for his role as General Gogol, head of the KGB, in the Roger Moore era of the James Bond film seriesTom VallancO ...
as KGB
General Gogol This is a list of allies of James Bond who appear throughout the film series and novels. MI6 M M is a Rear Admiral of the Royal Navy, and the head of the Secret Intelligence Service. Ian Fleming based the character on a number of peopl ...
was being flown by pilot (Geoff) Bond. Management Aviation were rebranded as Bond Helicopters in 1984. In 1987, Bond launched the UK's first dedicated air ambulance for
Cornwall Air Ambulance The Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust is a charity that provides a dedicated helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The service operates a Leonardo AW169 helicopter and two critical care cars that are u ...
Service and by 1991 Bond Helicopters was one of the largest helicopter companies in the UK. Bond Air Services then formed as a division of Bond Helicopters in the same year to manage expansion of light twin market for clients (such as
air ambulance services Air medical services are the use of aircraft, including both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to provide various kinds of urgent medical care, especially prehospital, emergency and critical care to patients during aeromedical evacuation and ...
and light houses) and by 1993 Bond had expanded internationally, acquiring Lloyd Helicopters, Australia and South East Asia's largest helicopter operator, which created an overall fleet of 107 helicopters. By 1994, Bond Group had merged with Norway's Helikopter Service to form the Helicopter Services Group, the world's largest commercial helicopter offshore operating group, with a fleet of over 350 twin engine helicopters. In 1999,
CHC Helicopter CHC Helicopter is a Texas-based helicopter services company. CHC Helicopter maintains its global headquarters in Irving, Texas and operates more than 250 aircraft in 30 countries around the world. CHC's major international operating units are ...
purchased the Helicopter Services Group, Stephen and Peter Bond (sons of founder David Bond) then acquired Bond Air Services division, (non oil & gas operations), from Helicopter Services Group.


2001–present

In 2001, Bond HQ moved from Aberdeen, Scotland to custom-built facilities at Gloucestershire Airport, however, its main operational base remained in Aberdeen. In 2004, Bond Aviation Group re-entered the offshore oil & gas support market, forming 'Bond Offshore Helicopters', and established an operating base, including Hangarage and passenger terminal facilities, on the east side of Aberdeen airport. Bond Air Services started the UK's first wind farm support contract using a winch-equipped EC135T2i from a new base at Lowestoft in 2010. In 2011, Bond Air Services were acquired by World Helicopter Group, a holding company for investment firms Grupo Inaer, Investindustrial and KKR & Co (formerly
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global private equity, private-equity and investment company. , the firm had completed private-equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 bil ...
) making their combined fleet to 360. On 12 February 2013, Avincis Group took delivery of two
Sikorsky S-92 The Sikorsky S-92 is an American twin-engine medium-lift helicopter built by Sikorsky Aircraft for the civil and military helicopter markets. The S-92 was developed from the Sikorsky S-70 helicopter and has similar parts such as flight control ...
s out of the sixteen which had been ordered by company. The helicopters were delivered to Bond Offshore Helicopters'
Aberdeen Airport Aberdeen International Airport is an international airport, located in the Dyce suburb of Aberdeen, Scotland, approximately northwest of Aberdeen city centre. As of 2023, 1.9 million people used the airport. The airport is owned and opera ...
base. In March 2014, Bond Offshore took delivery of a new S-92. The aircraft arrived at Prestwick Airport inside an Antonov transporter aircraft. On 25 April 2016, Bond was renamed Babcock Mission Critical Services Offshore. In September 2021, Babcock completed the sale of its oil and gas aviation business to CHC Group. An unexpected demand for back taxes (estimated at £10million) accumulated under previous ownership has led Offshore Helicopter Services (OHS) to issue a going concern warning in its latest accounts.


Offices

Mission Critical Services Offshore is based in
Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
, Scotland with additional operations located in Sumburgh. The company opened a new terminal – Terminal 2 – in Aberdeen in 2014, initially serving Nexen passengers. In 2015, the company opened a major new hangar at Aberdeen airport to accommodate its fleet. The hangar at the east side of the airport is used as both a maintenance and storage facility for S-92, H175, AW139 and AS365N3 helicopters. In May 2017, licensed engineering staff at Mission Critical Services voted for their union Prospect to be recognised for collective bargaining.


Search and rescue

Mission Critical Services also has two
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 ...
(SAR) aircraft that provide emergency support to offshore oil drilling operations. These AW139 aircraft are configured with specialist equipment including infrared cameras, loudhailers, searchlights and communication equipment. They are both based in Aberdeen from where with one as the lead and the other as the back-up they service the Central North Sea under a £60million five-year contract with Oil & Gas UK and 18 oil and gas companies.


Fleet


Accidents and incidents

* 18 February 2009 – G-REDU, an EC225 LP. During a night
visual approach In aviation, a visual approach is an approach to a runway at an airport conducted under instrument flight rules (IFR) but where the pilot proceeds by visual reference and clear of clouds to the airport. The pilot must at all times have either th ...
to the
Eastern Trough Area Project The Eastern Trough Area Project, commonly known as ETAP, is a network of nine smaller oil and gas fields in the Central North Sea covering an area up to 35 km in diameter. There are a total of nine different fields, six operated by BP and ...
platform, the helicopter descended and impacted the surface of the sea. The crew's perception of the position and orientation of the helicopter relative to the platform during the final approach was erroneous. All 18 people on board survived the controlled flight into terrain (water). * 1 April 2009 – G-REDL, a
Eurocopter AS332 The Airbus Helicopters H215 (formerly Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma) is a four-bladed, twin-engined, medium-sized, utility helicopter developed and initially produced by French aerospace company Aérospatiale. It has been subsequently manufacture ...
L2 Super Puma Mk 2, returning from the
Miller oilfield The Miller oilfield is a deep reservoir under the North Sea, 240 kilometres north-east of Peterhead in UKCS Blocks 16/7b and 16/8b. It was discovered in 1983 by BPMcClure, N.M., and Brown, A.A., Miller Field, 1992, in ''Giant Oil and Gas Fields ...
went down in the North Sea, 40 miles northeast of Aberdeen, killing all sixteen on board. Preliminary cause was attributed to a catastrophic failure in the main gearbox. * 10 May 2012 – G-REDW, a Bond Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma, travelling to the Conocophillips operated Joanne and Judy fields made a controlled ditching into the North Sea following a radio report of a low oil pressure light. All 14 people were rescued from the helicopter liferaft, 9 were airlifted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary while the remaining five were brought to Aberdeen by lifeboat. On 15 June 2012 helicopter manufacturer Eurocopter cleared Bond Offshore Helicopters of any blame for the ditching of G-REDW. On 17 October 2012 AAIB concluded in their S5/2012 report that a faulty design of the Emergency Lubrication System was the most likely cause of the warnings that led to the ditching of G-REDW and recommended "Eurocopter to review the design of the main gearbox emergency lubrication system on the EC225 LP Super Puma to ensure that the system will provide the crew with an accurate indication of its status when activated". * 17 February 2023 – G-MCSH, an
Airbus Helicopters H175 The Airbus Helicopters H175 (formerly Eurocopter EC175) is a 7-ton class super-medium utility helicopter produced by Airbus Helicopters. In China, the H175 is produced by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) as the Avicopter AC352. ...
, flew to the Elgin-Franklin complex east of Aberdeen. The aircraft landed safely but an illuminated tail rotor chip light prevented it from departing for its return journey. While the helicopter was parked on the helipad, gusts from Storm Otto, which reached over , snapped off three of its five blades close to the root. Industry sources advise that the rotor brake failed to hold the main blades from windmilling before they had been tied down, resulting in the loss of two of the broken blades into the north sea, while another hit the cockpit.


See also

*
Babcock Mission Critical Services Onshore Babcock Mission Critical Services Onshore, formerly Bond Air Services ( Bond Aviation Group), is an operator of air ambulance, police, and offshore windfarm helicopters in the UK. Babcock operates a mixed fleet of light twin-engine helicopters c ...


References


External links


CHCBond Aviation Group HistorySetting the Standard
by Vertical Magazine {{helicopter airlines Airlines of the United Kingdom Helicopter airlines