3 injured in GOM crash

[Time Out]

Published February 19, 2005

Three men went to a Lake Charles, La., hospital after a helicopter went down near an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico about 110 miles southeast of Galveston.

Two men, ages 22 and 26, were on a helicopter piloted by a third man, 63, when the helicopter took off from a rig Friday morning, according to reports from Galveston EMS.

Seconds after takeoff, the helicopter dropped into the water, turning upside down as it landed.

A passing offshore crew boat pulled the three men on board, Coast Guard officials said.

A Galveston EMS air-rescue helicopter flew to the scene and took the men to the Louisiana hospital, where they were receiving treatment Friday for what EMS supervisor Greg Kunkel described as non-life-threatening injuries.

The names of the men were not available Friday.

source (http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=5cff5b4ce7e35634)

[Bomber ARIS]

Cue SASless........

[SASless]

Well,

At this time I have no information about the incident but will do some researching.

I will pose a few questions....


Winter time...single engine aircraft....cold water....no survival suits....non-Coast Guard aircraft fetched the survivors to hospital. Aircraft rolled over shortly after impact....wonder what the sea state was?

No...I won't do it.....no harrangue about twins....no suggesting flying around at a weight that will let you keep flying after losing a donk.....no suggestion that cold water does really kill people and yes....we don't really have proper SAR cover in the Gulf of Mexico....no...no...no I shall not start that rant. Nice try!

Glad it turned out as good as it did.

Supposed to be a Rotorcraft Leasing/Omni Aviation Bell 407 which went down immediately after takeoff from a rig about 110 NM Southeast of Galveston, Texas.

Decent weather, winds about 15 knots...water temperature about 65 degrees Farenheit. Five foot seas.

[GLSNightPilot]

It was a PHI helicopter, not Galveston EMS. Galveston EMS has no helicopters, air rescue or otherwise. The Coast Guard only goes out if you can convince them that it's life or death. They dithered around for well over an hour before deciding to go out to pick up a reported heart attack victim a few weeks back. We were ready to go, but the victim was on a rig south of New Orleans, and it would have taken us a long time to get there from Galveston, and then getting back would have been interesting, since the entire Gulf coast was fogged in, and we would have had to use Austin as an alternate. When the Era S76 went down, we went out well over an hour after it was reported missing, and still beat the Coast Guard. They go, usually, but they don't seem to be in any hurry. If I ever go down, I hope I don't have to depend on them for rescue. They seem to be mostly focused on police work, not SAR.

[alouette]

This response might not be appropriate to the chopper ditching in the Gulf but it raises a few eyebrows.

Then I would like to know why there is a need for a Coast Guard if SAR is not on the priority list? Does one really think that there is a huge success in doing police work. When I flew law enforcement in the Caribbean the success rate on our side was ridiculous while we intercepted one go-fast two or three others went through. Hmmm...:E

[SASless]

The North Sea has its Jig-Saw, commerical operators doing SAR, and pays attention to SAR needs. Even Nigeria is rumoured to be considering it now that they are going deep water.

Why does the Gulf of Mexico continue to operate just like they did (in general) as they did when ol' Booby Suggs did when he had his fleet of Bell 47's?

Why does the oil industry, helicopter operators, and the vaunted FAA let this go on? It is not like the oil companies are barely making it?

Has an oil company ever lost money? Has an oil company ever gone bust? Has anyone ever stopped the oil companies from raising rates (pump prices).

What is the helicopter industry afraid of?

[Bomber ARIS]

Regarding the less than impressive picture painted of the Coastguard, what would happen if, say, one of them shiny new PHI 92s, full of bears, went down in deep water? Are they expendable like all of the others before them??

I have the impresson that the FAA/Oil companies/operators must be more than happy with the continual loss of aircraft/lack of SAR,etc. in the Gold Rush, I mean Gulf.............What other possible explanation could there be?

I weep for the future:{

[SASless]

Bomber,

There is supposed to be a review of the GOM offshore situation and also the EMS safety situation by the FAA. Keep an eye out for the reports and recommendations that stem from that review.

I am not overly confident that the vaunted FAA will have much to say that will directly improve the situation. They are not prone to point fingers at themselves for some reason.....maybe they are a government operation or something.

PHPA is getting more active and involved in safety issues.....there is a safety group that meets for discussions about safety improvements and that is making some head way in the Gulf but they are up against a very ingrained mindset down there.

The confusing thing to me reamains how the same oil company can have so many different standards of safety throughout the world. I guess lives are worth less in different places.

Any Risk Analysis matrix that was applied to deep water drilling flight operations in the Gulf would quickly show the unneccessary risks being taken. The steps needed to improve the situation are not overwhelming....it just takes dedication by the operators and the oil companies to achieve that.

Four major issues I see are Weather Reporting, Communications, Air Traffic Control, and SAR.

What we need is for some our leathery faced ol' Rat Killers from down there to explain the problems they run into on a daily or nightly basis.