Super Puma helicopter that crashed, killing all 16 on board, 'fell like a torpedo', inquiry hears Just before the helicopter hit the sea, or just as the helicopter hit the sea, I cannot be sure which, I saw one flame come from the helicopter. I couldn't say exactly where on the helicopter this came from. There was then a big splash as the helicopter hit the sea in a bang, then there was white smoke. Moments later, he saw "four large, black rotor blades all attached together falling out of the sky towards the sea." The only eyewitness account of the accident emerged almost five years after the Super Puma AS332 L2, operated by Bond, crashed on April 1, 2009, off the Aberdeenshire coast. Fourteen oil workers and two crew members died after the aircraft suffered a catastrophic gearbox failure 12 miles off Peterhead. Eight of those who died came from the north east of Scotland, seven from the rest of the UK, and one from Latvia. The Crown Office later announced, to the anger of the families, that there was insufficient evidence for any prosecutions to take place. Most of the victims worked for KCA Deutag Drilling and were returning from BP's Miller platform when the accident happened. The inquiry, which is expected to last about six weeks, will examine the circumstances of the crash in a bid to prevent similar accidents. Relatives of the victims were in the Town House in Aberdeen for the start of the hearing, which began with a roll call of those who died. Some family members wept as the accident was described. Mr Hildre said debris was spread around an area of around 110 yards in diameter and a fast boat launched by his vessel, the Normand Aurora, found eight bodies on the water. They were tied together by the search team to prevent them floating away. The proceedings began with a request from the families for Bond Offshore Helicopters to be compelled to make available the technical logs of all its North Sea helicopters at the time. Tom Marshall, representing 12 families, said the logs could prove that workload was a factor in the aircraft's gearbox not being replaced, despite a potential fault being discovered eight days prior to the accident. However, Sheriff Derek Pyle refused the application, saying he did not want the inquiry's scope to widen, and did not want to embark on a "fishing expedition." The first witness, Malcolm Paterson, 29, a trainee engineer with Bond Helicopters at the time, told the inquiry he carried out pre-flight checks on the Super Puma before the accident. He said no faults were detected during checks carried out through the night, and he learned about the accident after waking up later on April 1. The two pilots who died were Capt Paul Burnham, 31, from Methlick, and co-pilot Richard Menzies, 24, from Droitwich Spa. The oil workers who died were: Brian Barkley, 30, James Costello, 24, Alex Dallas, 62, Stuart Wood, 27 and Vernon Elrick, 41, all from Aberdeen; Raymond Doyle, 57, from Cumbernauld; James John Edwards, 33, from Liverpool; Nairn Ferrier, 40, from Dundee; Nolan Carl Goble , 44, from Norwich, Gareth Hughes, 53, from Angus; David Rae, 63, from Dumfries; Leslie Taylor, 41, from Kintore, Aberdeenshire; Warren Mitchell, 38, of Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire, and Mihails Zuravskis, 39, from Latvia. Another four oil workers, including the first female victim of a North Sea helicopter accident, died when a Super Puma aircraft crashed into the water off Shetland in August last year, in the fifth major helicopter incident in the North Sea in four years. It was on approach to Sumburgh Airport with 16 passengers and two crew when it lost speed suddenly and dropped out of the sky.