A new agency should be created to oversee offshore helicopter safety off the coast of Newfoundland, according to a new report commissioned in the aftermath of a deadly crash last year.

There were 29 recommendations in the Offshore Helicopter Safety Inquiry released Wednesday.

The inquiry was set up after the crash of Cougar Helicopters Flight 491 in March 2009. Seventeen people were killed in the crash, with only one survivor.

Commissioner Robert Wells, who led the probe, said his top recommendation is to establish an offshore safety body or an autonomous division within the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, which regulates the industry.

"There were areas where I thought safety could be enhanced and improved, and that reorganization was appropriate," Wells told CTV News Channel Wednesday afternoon.

He said similar regulatory bodies are in place in Australia, Norway and the U.K.

Other recommendations included in the report:

• A dedicated first-response helicopter capable of being in the air in 15 minutes should be available.
• Offshore pilots should give passengers a short briefing before takeoff.
• Better on-board and equipment safety should be further explored.
• A committee should decide if a night flight is necessary.
• Helmets made mandatory for pilots.

It was the petroleum board that established the inquiry following the crash of Cougar Helicopters Flight 491.

The CNLOPB intends to review the report for 30 days before commenting.

The report released Wednesday is the first phase of the inquiry. Next the commissioner will review a report by the Transportation Safety Board into the cause of the crash.

The Sikorsky S-92 helicopter was headed to the White Rose and Hibernia oilfields east of St. John's in March 2009 when the pilots noticed a loss of oil pressure in the aircraft's main gearbox. They never made it back to land, slamming into the ocean nearly 60 kilometres off Newfoundland's east coast.

When it established the inquiry last year, the petroleum board asked Wells, a retired Newfoundland Supreme Court justice, to finds ways to make travel safer for people working at oil sites more than 300 kilometres offshore.

About 700 people work offshore at any given time.

In February, commissioner Wells pre-empted his first official report with calls for immediate safety improvements.

The federal-provincial offshore regulator responded by restricting nighttime flights and demanding energy companies keep a fully-equipped search and rescue helicopter on standby whenever offshore workers are being transported.

In his interim recommendations, Wells said rescue choppers must have auto-hover capability and a forward-looking infrared device to help find and retrieve survivors.

On the day Flight 491 crashed, sole survivor Robert Decker waited 75 minutes in the frigid North Atlantic while a Cougar chopper was equipped with a rescue winch before it could rush to his rescue.

Military choppers based in Gander, central Newfoundland were two hours away, training in Nova Scotia that day.

The first phase of Wells' report focuses on the safety regime for offshore workers.

A $27-million lawsuit has been filed against the helicopter's manufacturer, Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., and others alleging breach of duty, gross negligence, negligent misrepresentation, recklessness and willful misconduct.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.