Return of the PLB

Passengers on offshore helicopter flights will be reissued with personal locater beacons (PLBs) starting in July.

PLBs, which are carried by the passengers on helicopter flights offshore, were withdrawn from service in March. It was determined that the devices had hampered a search and rescue mission following the crash of a Super Puma in the North Sea in February.

The helicopter was carrying passengers to the oil platform in the ETAP (Eastern Trough Area Project) field, a network of oil and gas reservoirs operated by BP and Shell, 125 miles east of Aberdeen.

The PLBs had caused longer range rescue beacons on the helicopter and life rafts to shut down.

‘In essence, the smart technology fitted to the life-raft beacons is designed to shut the beacon down if it detects another beacon signal within a certain radius,’ explained Britta Hallbauer, a spokeswoman for Oil and Gas UK, the organisation that represents the UK offshore oil and gas industry.