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Old 7th Sep 2009, 19:37
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CajunAl
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
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ERA BoCal-105 Accident

This looks like a ERA BoCal 105 that hit the deck a little hard Attached the link to the newspaper site.
Sufered minor injuries

Pilot suffers minor injuries in crash | HoumaToday.com | The Courier | Houma, LA

By Raymond Legendre
Staff Writer


Published: Monday, September 7, 2009 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, September 6, 2009 at 9:29 p.m.
SCHRIEVER — A Sunday afternoon helicopter crash at a small, private heliport in Schriever resulted in minor injuries for the aircraft’s pilot, authorities said.

Investigators say the pilot was attempting to land the helicopter when mechanical problems caused the red, black and white craft to fall a short distance to the ground, said Schriever Fire Chief Ken Pitre.

The crash happened about 2:30 p.m. at the ERA Helicopters heliport at 221 N. Main Project Road. The crash broke the rotor blades and glass on the craft.

The pilot, whose name has not been released, was taken by Acadian Ambulance to Thibodaux Regional Medical Center.

The pilot was test-flying the helicopter in search of pre-existing mechanical problems, Pitre said. He did not know specifics about the mechanical problems.

Members of the Schriever Fire Department and officials with ERA Helicopters, which contracts with Williams Exploration & Production Co., responded to the crash and cleared the debris.

The heliport is used daily to transport Williams employees, Pitre said. On most days, the heliport has three to four helicopters on site. There were three there Sunday, the crashed craft and two others.

“This place here has not had a crash on the private heliport,” Pitre said. “So they have a good safety record.”

National Transportation Safety Board officials, en route to Schriever late Sunday, will investigate the wreck.

The craft was the second helicopter to go down in Terrebonne this year.

In January, an oilfield helicopter crash in a Terrebonne marsh killed eight people.

That craft, owned and operated by Lafayette-based Petroleum Helicopters Inc., carried two pilots employed by PHI and seven oilfield workers from two companies, Dynamic Industries and MMR Offshore Services. One worker, Steven Yelton of Floresville, Texas, survived.

A National Transportation Safety Board investigation indicates a hawk hit the windshield minutes after it took off from Morgan City bound for a Shell production platform in the Gulf of Mexico.
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