A version of this paper was first presented at the Royal Institute of Navigation NAV 08 Conference held at Church House, Westminster, London in October 2008.
The North Sea oil platforms are reliant on regular and reliable helicopter operations for the movement of staff and supplies. The environment is challenging and there have been six fatal accidents incurring the loss of 79 lives since the mid-1970s. The need for accurate and reliable helicopter approach procedures has been identified and this paper reports the results of a feasibility study into the use of EGNOS-based approaches to oil platforms in the North Sea.