Golf Charlie suffers second warning light ‘emergency’

A Sumburgh rescue helicopter returned to base for the second time in as many days after developing an engine warning light shortly after taking off on a routine training flight.

Airport staff summoned the emergency services as a precaution after Golf Charlie alerted them that the fault warning light had come back on. The helicopter landed safely a minute later.

Around the same time yesterday, Golf Charlie, one of two search and rescue Sikorsky S-92s based at Sumburgh, returned to the airport after a warning light, believed to be for the same fault, came on while the helicopter was on a training  flight.

A Shetland Coastguard spokeswoman said that the helicopter had only travelled around quarter-of-a-mile from the airport before turning back. A different four-man crew was on-board from the one involved in yesterday’s incident.