A further body has been recovered from the Clutha Vaults bar in central Glasgow following the accident involving the Scottish Police Eurocopter EC135T2i on Friday evening. This brings the death toll to nine, of which six were in the bar and three in the helicopter – Bond Air Services pilot David Traill and police officers Tony Collins and Kirsty Nelis.

This sad accident occurred at 10.25pm on Friday evening, and saw the EC135T2+ crash onto the flat roof of a single-story building close to the River Clyde and less than one mile east of the Glasgow City Heliport where it was based. The helicopter was operated by Bond Air Services for the Scottish Police, and was a 2007-build aircraft with an estimated 6,300 flying hours on the airframe. David Traill was an experienced pilot who flew with the Royal Air Force for many years before moving out of the military – he flew Chinooks in both Gulf Wars and was the Chinook Display team captain in 2007. He had flown with Bond Air Services for the police in Scotland for four years. A facebook page RIP David Traill has been set up in his memory.

32 people who were in the bar were taken to one of three different hospitals across the city. Of these, 12 remain in hospital. Three of these casualties are still being treated in intensive care, where their conditions are described as “serious but stable”.

Jeremy Parkin of HeliHub.com was interviewed by BBC Radio 5 Live as part of the broadcaster’s coverage of the situation. They were seeking a view from someone with close knowledge of the industry, but independent from all manufacturers, operators etc, a feature that we are proud to maintain.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families at this sad time. We trust that the Air Accidents Investigations Branch (AAIB) are able to provide an initial assessment report within 10 days, as they have done on other high-profile fatal accidents in 2013. That would go a long way to reducing the wild speculation in the general media as to the potential cause of the accident, a problem we have to put up with so often in the helicopter industry.

HeliHub.com