UK Police say that 16 people were killed when a Bond Offshore Helicopters Super Puma went down off Scotland's northeast coast on April 1, turning the search for eight missing people from a rescue mission into a recovery operation.

Eight bodies were recovered from the sea April 1. The Super Puma helicopter was returning to Aberdeen from a North Sea BP oil platform when it crashed in calm and sunny conditions. The chopper was carrying 14 oil workers and a two-man crew.

BP said it was suspending the use of Bond helicopters for ferrying workers to oil platforms for an unspecified period. "This is not about confidence in Bond, this is about giving Bond and its staff time to come to terms with their loss," said a BP spokeswoman. "Alternative arrangements have been put in place to cover BP's offshore helicopter operations...Nine scheduled flights will be covered by another helicopter operator. BP's oil production in the North Sea "remains unaffected," said BP.

Bond said it was working with BP to resume services, and rejected calls by a trade union for all its Super Pumas to be grounded. "This is not an aircraft issue. We have every confidence in the Super Puma," a Bond spokesman said.

The fatal crash was the second such incident in the North Sea this year, both involving the Super Puma. A different model of Super Puma operated by Bomb ditched in the North Sea on Feb. 18, but all 18 people on board were rescued.

In that incident, the Bond Helicopters EC225 was making its final approach to an BP-run production platform 120 miles east of Aberdeen. A preliminary AAIB report says there is no evidence of malfunction on any major mechanical components although investigations into avionics and warning systems are continuing.

The report says that as the helicopter approached the rig, the weather quickly deteriorated. The visibility had reduced to 0.5 nm and the cloud base had lowered to 500 ft above sea level. The report states that: "at a range of approximately 13 nm, the commander could also see the platform and the crew agreed to descend to 500 ft asl and conduct a visual approach using the weather radar to assist with range information. The crew then elected to descend further, to a height of 300 ft asl, to ensure clearance from the reported cloud base but on passing 400 ft the helicopter entered a bank of fog.

The crew climbed the helicopter to 500 ft asl where they could again see the ETAP platform gas flare and platform lights, but not the helideck, which has an elevation of 166 ft." The crew disengaged the autopilot just under a mile from the platform and a 'Check Height' audio warning was suspended. The helicopter commenced a turn to the left and began to descend and reduce speed. When it rolled out of the turn the visibility appeared to have reduced, but the crew could still see the bright glow of the platform flare.

The co-pilot saw what he believed was the platform's helideck lighting as well as the lights of the platform and the commander saw what he believed were the lights of the platform but could not identify the helideck. The aircraft made a heavy landing on the surface of the water.

Now, if at any time the pilots are uncertain about the location of an installation/vessel, a go-around is mandatory.

The worst North Sea accident was in 1986 when 45 people died after a Chinook crashed into the sea off the Shetland Islands north of Scotland.

In Canada, 17 people died March 12 when a Sikorsky S-92A helicopter, carrying workers to two offshore oil platforms, ditched in the Atlantic after declaring a mechanical problem. That fatal accident, which prompted an emergency airworthiness directive, remains under investigation.