From the myspace blog of "Crash" who claims to be the 2IC of the S76 that went down
*disclaimer, I make no statement regarding the veracity of the following:
On Sunday October 22nd I woke up at 0400 just like any other workday. I got dressed, ate a bananna with peanut butter and was on the rode by 0430 to the Morgan City base to preflight my helicopter. I met with my PIC (pilot in command) and he informed me we would be launching at daybreak to pick up one guy 60 miles offshore at Eugene Island 259C (EI259C). We watched the weather and waited for daylight. The day before I was the pilot flying and we attempted this flight twice, both times we decided to cancel the flight and turn around. Ok back to Sunday, after daybreak we got our last weather briefing the weather was good enough to make the flight. When we got to the beach the weather was marginal but once we got over the water our visibility cleared to 20 miles to the east and 10 miles to the west. There were thunderstorms all around but clear in our line of flight. The cloud ceiling was roughly 500-700 feet and solid overcast. As we made our way inbound to EI259C I made a 20 minute out call to let them know that we were inbound. The platform informed us they were experiencing low clouds and rain. I told them we would make a 5 minute call and let them know if we had to turn around. As we got closer the weather radar in the cockpit showed the platform and the rainshower they were experiencing. When we were approimately 5 minutes out I made the final call, the platform gave me a green deck that means we were cleared to land. As we made our way inbound rain started obscuring our vision on the windshield but still plenty of visibility. The pilot in command turned to the west so I could search for the platform out of the left window, soon the platform came into sight. We made our prelanding checks and started setting ourself up for the approach. The rain became moderate and the visibility was around 3 miles. The platform was in plain view, I stated to the PIC that he could turn to the left and set himself up perfectly for landing into the wind. The last call I made we were roughly 400 feet on the radar altimeter, the PIC called for windsheild wipers. I stated "windshield wipers" and reached for the switch. From that point it all seems like a bad dream. As I reached the switch we impacted the water at roughly 100mph. The windshield blew out and the cockpit immediately filled with water and flipped upside down. I was shocked and went into rescue mode, a calm came over me and I waited for the cockpit to fill to equalize the pressure. Once we were inverted and the cockpit was summerged, I pulled the emergency lever to jettison the door and then released my seatbelt and exited the aircraft. On the surface I could smell jet fuel and the only thing you could see was the belly of the helicopter with the wheels out. I pulled the inflate handles on my switlik survival vest. The vest inflated and I pulled out my EPIRB ( personal GPS emergency tracking device ) and activated it along with my strobe light. I didnt see my PIC and made my way around to the other side of the helicopter. He seemed to be ok and he was hanging on to the side of the helicopter. As the helicopter started to go under I stated that we should back away so it wouldnt grab an article of clothing and pull us under with it. We backed away and watched the helicopter dissappear into the dark gulf water. The sea state was about 4-6 foot waves and the temp was approx. 68-72 degrees. The storm moved over the top of us and was rain was pelting us. 4-6 foot seas are not huge but I found myself under water half of the time. I had on steel toe shoes that weighted me down but was uneasy about kicking them off so I could retain body heat. As I lay there in the water I thought to myself someone will be here soon to get us. I looked around and could see rigs in the distance with boats and choppers coming and going but too far away to see us. Now that the helicopter was at the bottom of the ocean it will definitely be harder to see us. After failed attempts and dreams that someone would see us, I asked the PIC for his EPIRB. I set it off as well and thought well maybe my unit is broken and this one will work for sure. After 30 or 40 minutes I thought to myself how in the hell can we still be here and noone looking for us?? My P:IC said he couldnt feel his arms and legs like a hypothermic state was overtaking him. I was thinking to myself I felt fine but I can't let this guy go down. I made the suggestion to swim to a nearby platform about 2 miles away. We argued if we would be exhausted or not but I won by saying lets attempt to swim that way because the current seems to be pulling us toward it anyway. It gave us a goal to achieve so we would sit there and think about our impending doom. One hour into the swim me and the PIC started drifting further apart, didnt matter we were going the same direction but I kept an eye out just to see that he was still ok. Then I received a powerful strike to my right leg, everyones worst fears were happening to me.....I knew a shark had found me and this was the end. Then another swift blow to the stomach area. OMG I thought I am going to die. I didnt feel pain, just a sharp blow with about 20 pounds of pressure behind it. The strikes became more intense and more frequent. then one swam under me. It was a shark OMG!!! I was getting hit about 5 times a second but no damage no blood. I knew I must have received a cut or wound from the crash because the fish were way to persistant. I thought to myself "how can I live through an impact to the water, turn upside down under water, escape, and get eaten by a shark?" We all have our time to go and I thought this was it. I made my peace with God and knew I would never hold my child Kaiden in my arms again and he would grow up always wondering what his father was like" I began to cry out to god for help as the fish were trying to feed off of my body. I swam harder and faster to make my way to the rig. The weight of the steel toe shoes I was wearing was tiring me even more but I knew if I kicked them off I would have problems climbing the barnacle encrusted ladder on the rig. The rain stopped but the wind had picked up to 40kts or so. only a mile or less to the rig now and I wasn't giving up, I could see my PIC swimming in the same direction about 50 yards from me. I swam for about another hour and made it within 75 feet of the platform. I was then swimming against the current, I didnt know if I would have the strength to make it the last 50 feet. Every time I would make it 10 feet or so the waves would push me back. I rolled over to my back and used my arms and legs to propel me through the water. 2 hours and 30 minutes I had been swimming when my hand got a grip on the the rung of the ladder. The barnacles sliced into my hand and I smiled, that is the best pain I had ever felt. I climbed up the ladder to the mezzanine and got on my all fours to praise god for helping me have strength to make it to this platform. My PIC also made it and we started searching the rig for food, water anything that would help us be rescued. We found a bunkhouse that had two beds, blankets, pillows, 2 cases of coke, a case of water, peanut butter, spam, and tuna fish. We could last for a few days out here if need be. I took off my clothes to dry them and saw why the fish were after me. My right leg had a puncture wound 1 and 1/2 inches wide and about 2 inches deep. It was bleeding down my leg to my foot. I found a first aid kit and sterilized the wound, put betadine on it and wrapped it with a compress. My PIC was shaking almost in a state of shock, I made him drink some water and gatorade. He wrapped up in blankets and laid down on the bunk. I made my way up to the helipad to see what was around. I tried to wave my survival vest at them and turned the strobe light on but I was too far away they couldnt see me. I went back down to the first deck to check on my PIC and find some paint to make an SOS sign on the helideck. My PIC was ok and I continued to search for paint. I found no paint and decided to go back up top and spend the rest of my day trying to get help. I attached my survival vest and pants to the helicopter tie downs on the deck so if anyone flew over the deck could see we were there. I waited on top for roughly an hour and no one even attempted to find us. This is crazy I thought, we have two GPS tracking devices and a communication center with 20 controllers that should be in contact with us. I began to lose hope that we were going to be rescued that day. Ohh I forgot to tell you that this one platform was damaged by hurricane Katrina so there was no power or people on it. Finally in the distance I saw a helicopter heading directly toward us. I got up and unbuckled the safety vest and waved it side to side so the helicopter would see me. Of course how do you miss a fat kid in his underwear jumping up and with a bloody bandage on his leg? The helicopter made a circle back around to see what I was doing. They saw I needed help and pulled into a hover. I gave them hand signs to call for help they gave me a thumbs up and then took off. Within minutes there was an S-76 and a 407 there to pick us up. The 407 landed and loaded us up and took us to the hospital. The 407 landed on the hospital helipad and the nurses met us up top. In the hospital many people were there to question us and nurses are starting I.V.'s , blood work was being drawn and heart moniters were being hooked up, I was happy to be there. The doctor examined me and came back to tell me they were keeping my overnight. My CK level was 1200 and that was a little high. Your CK level shows your muscles are starting to breakdown. The two and one half hour swim took a toll on my body. He said that they wanted it to come down before I was released because if it stays high or increases it can send you into kidney failure. They set me up in a bed in the ER because the hospital was full. One benefit to this is I got to take a shower in the nurses lounge WOOHOO!
I am at home now waiting on the investigation, they recovered the helicopter and I have a few meetings that I will have to go to. I will go back to the company I work for and I will fly the 76 again.
Thanks for all your love and support