Offshore flights resume for first time since March helicopter crash

A helicopter flight carrying Newfoundland offshore oil workers departed Monday morning for the first time since a chopper crash killed 17 people two months ago.

Cougar Helicopters grounded its fleet this spring after Cougar Flight 491 slammed into the Atlantic Ocean on March 12.

The St. John's-based company resumed its passenger flights Monday, with the first chopper taking off at about 9:30 a.m. local time.

Thirteen passengers and two crew members boarded the flight.

The first flight was originally scheduled to take off an hour and a half earlier, but it was delayed because of fog.

The president of a union representing Newfoundland and Labrador oil workers said he's not entirely comfortable about plans to resume the helicopter flights.

"You know, 15 minutes out, you're flying over the place where 17 of your co-workers died just a couple of months ago," Sheldon Peddle told CBC News. "It's certainly something that's going to be very hard on the nerves and emotions, no doubt."

Cougar has directed its pilots to fly at a maximum altitude of 2,134 metres — 610 metres less than the helicopter that crashed — to allow for safer emergency landings.