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PHI Crash in Louisiana Jan 2009 - 8 Dead, 1 Injured
Word from the dark side is that a PHI S76 crashed in the GOM today at about 3:30 pm.Thoughts and prayers with the people who have lost their lives.
Alt3. |
Seven people are dead after a helicopter crash in Terrebone Parish. Coast Guard officers said that the crash happened at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday near Bayou Penchant, La. Nine passengers were onboard the helicopter owned by Phi, Inc. Rescue units from both the Coast Guard and Terrebone emergency services responded to the scene and began a search. One passenger has been taken to a hospital for treatment and another has yet to be found. The cause of the crash in under investigation. |
Many prayers!
Helicopter crashes in Terrebonne, seven dead
One hospitalized, another missing By MATTHEW PLEASANT/Staff Writer Published: Sunday, January 4, 2009 at 6:07 p.m. Last Modified: Sunday, January 4, 2009 at 7:25 p.m. HOUMA – Seven people died in a helicopter crash this afternoon in a marshy area near Bayou Penchant in western Terrebonne Parish, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The helicopter, owned by the Lafayette-based Petroleum Helicopters Inc., was carrying nine passengers. One was sent to Terrebonne General Medical Center and another remains missing. The helicopter’s operator sent a distress signal at 3 p.m., said Jaclyn Young, a Coast Guard spokeswoman. The U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination Center in Virgina picked up the signal and alerted the Coast Guard station in New Orleans, she said. Officials aren’t yet sure what caused the crash. The Terrebonne Sheriff’s Office Water Patrol is searching waters and marsh near Bayou Penchant, in the far western end of the parish and a Coast Guard helicopter is assisting as well. Officers are also using an airboat to aid their search, said Maj. Thomas Odom, water patrol commander. Allen Boudreax Sr. of Franklinton said he was notified by PHI that his son, 23-year-old Allen Jr., was on board the helicopter when it went down. He had not been advised of his son's status, however. Boudreaux Jr. is a welder and fitter for Dynamic Industries, and was en route to a job site when the wreck occurred, his father said. |
Oilfield helicopter crash kills 8, injures 1 in Terrebonne
Anyone know if weather was a factor or not? Very sad... RIP :( |
Todays observations at Houma.
04 18:50 SE 7 7.00 Overcast OVC010 70 NA 30.10 NA 04 17:50 SE 7 7.00 Mostly Cloudy BKN017 72 NA 30.09 NA 04 16:55 SE 9 7.00 Mostly Cloudy BKN025 75 NA 30.07 NA 04 13:50 SE 12 7.00 Mostly Cloudy BKN025 75 NA 30.06 NA 04 12:50 SE 12 7.00 Mostly Cloudy BKN020 73 NA 30.07 NA 04 11:50 SE 12 7.00 Mostly Cloudy BKN020 68 NA 30.09 NA 04 10:50 SE 12 7.00 Mostly Cloudy BKN025 68 NA 30.10 NA 04 09:50 SE 7 7.00 Mostly Cloudy BKN050 68 NA 30.11 NA 04 08:50 SE 9 7.00 Mostly Cloudy BKN050 66 NA 30.09 NA 04 07:50 SE 5 7.00 Mostly Cloudy BKN020 64 NA 30.07 NA 04 05:50 S 5 7.00 Mostly Cloudy BKN020 63 NA 30.02 NA |
RIP
Aircraft had just departed from Amelia outisde of Morgan City according to PHI. Crash scene site about 10 miles south in the bayou. The one survivor is reported as 'critical'.
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Our thoughts and prayers go to the families and the survivor in critical conditions.
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PHI Crash in Louisiana - 8 Dead, 1 Injured
Eight people died and another was injured when a helicopter bound for an offshore oil platform crashed Sunday afternoon in Louisiana's marshlands about 100 miles southwest of New Orleans. The helicopter, operated by PHI Inc., crashed about 3:30 p.m. shortly after taking off from PHI's base in Amelia, said Richard Rovinelli, a spokesman for the company. The cause of the crash isn't clear. Rovinelli did not know the type of helicopter or its exact destination. Condolences to the victims and families. Not a good start to the year in the GOM. |
Pilots identified here.
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Spokesman?
The cause of the crash isn't clear. Rovinelli did not know the type of helicopter or its exact destination. Trog |
IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 748P Make/Model: S76 Description: S-76, H-76, AUH-76, Spirit, Eagle (HE-24 Date: 01/04/2009 Time: 2040 Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: Fatal Mid Air: N Missing: N Damage: Unknown LOCATION City: AMELIA State: LA Country: US DESCRIPTION N748P, A SIKORSKY S-76C ROTORCRAFT WHILE ENROUTE TO OFFSHORE OIL PLATFORM, THERE WERE 9 PERSONS ON BOARD, 8 WERE FATALLY INJURED, AND ONE SUSTAINED SERIOUS INJURIES, 10 MILES FROM AMELIA, LA INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 8 # Crew: 0 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk: # Pass: 9 Fat: 8 Ser: 1 Min: 0 Unk: # Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk: WEATHER: KMSY 042053Z 17010KT 10SM FEW025 SCT130 BKN200 23/18 A3006 OTHER DATA Activity: Business Phase: Unknown Operation: OTHER FAA FSDO: BATON ROUGE, LA (SW03) Entry date: 01/05/2009 |
I flew with Tom on many occasions, a sad loss, his dry dark sense of humour was great, Rest in Peace mate.
A sad day for all involved. |
The FAA notification appears slightly inaccurate.
It lists 8 fatalities and 1 seriously injured under passengers. However, earlier in the thread, the pilots were also listed as deceased. The FAA notification doesn't list crew as fatal, serious or unknown? Was it 7 passengers and two crew on board? |
Leading Edge
The two pilots and seven passengers were bound for two Shell oil platforms The two pilots and six other passengers were pronounced dead. Theres a pic of the crash site at the link above, what a mess. |
Thank you Davy.
It would have been good if the FAA had got it right, they are, after all the Federal Agency responsible for regulating aviation. Its a sad picture. |
The FAA preliminary reports are frequently gibberish. I've seen the wrong type aircraft remain there for weeks, as well as many other types of errors. If you want accuracy, you need to read the NTSB reports.
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The spokesman in which you are referring is the Chief Admin. Officer, not a pilot. He is in charge of running the business, under Mr. Al of course, so why he is speaking on behalf of the pilots is beyond me. I would rather here from the DO or the CP, they have a better understanding of what is going on and the background to support it.
God Bless those who left and best wishes to PHI. |
:( Very sad, RIP
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PHI 76 crash
From the picture of the CG it looks like it was quite a steep vertical fall, since the rests of the helicopter do not seem to be spread along a path in the marsh but they're quite limited to the crash spot...I wonder what happened....May your souls rest in peace fellows aviators....
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Is that the head and one main rotor blade visible in the crater? I cannot recognize anything else that even looks like part of a 76.
Deepest regrets to all involved......... |
Tom
Can someone tell me if Tom was an older gentleman. I flew with a 412 guy named Tom who's last name escapes me, but it was similar to this guys. We only flew together 3 or 4 times, but I enjoyed his company. When I left PHI he had just been offered a 76 transition.
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Can someone tell me if Tom was an older gentleman. |
At least the good news out of this is the weather was good, there were recorders on board and perhaps we will know fairly quickly what caused this tragedy.
It should remind us of the differences between fixed wing aircraft and the mechanical complexity of helicopters and the diligence required to ensure the aircraft is in an airworthy state. |
There is no good news out of this. What are you thinking, man?
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thanks
Thats the guy that I flew with, a real pleasure to fly with and a pretty good stick. Really sorry to hear of his passing...
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Airwon
Although I understand what you mean by your comment, SASless does indeed have a point that hopefully some good should come out of this catastrophe by way of preventing a recurrence. The quicker the information regarding the circumstances of the accident are made available, the quicker improved safety measures can be introduced.
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NTSB INVESTIGATING CRASH OF HELICOPTER FLYING TO OIL PLATFORM ************************************************************ The National Transportation Safety Board has dispatched four investigators to investigate the fatal crash of a helicopter in Louisiana on Sunday shortly after it took off to transport workers to an offshore oil platform. At approximately 2:09 p.m. (CST), January 4, 2009, a Sikorsky S-76C++ helicopter (N748P), operated by PHI, Inc., crashed into swampy terrain just north of the Gulf of Mexico coastline near Morgan City, Louisiana. The aircraft was on a Part 135 revenue flight to oil platform number 301B. It had taken off from Amelie, Louisiana about 7 minutes before the crash. There were no radio reports of problems from the crew before the crash. Weather at the time is reported to have been visual flight rule conditions, with scattered clouds at 1,000 feet and 10 miles visibility. An Emergency Locating Transmitter (ELT) emitted a signal following the crash and helped search and rescue personnel find the wreckage. Eight of the nine persons aboard perished, and one person is listed in critical condition. The investigator-in-charge is Bill Gamble from the Board's Central Regional Office. He and another investigator have traveled to West Lafayette, Louisiana, where PHI's headquarters are located. They will review aircraft maintenance records and flight crew records, and interview company personnel. Another NTSB investigator is at the accident site. He is documenting the wreckage and will oversee the recovery of the wreckage later today. The wreckage will be moved to West Lafayette for further examination. A fourth investigator arrived yesterday at West Lafayette to supervise the download of data from a maintenance recorder that was recovered from the wreckage. A second maintenance recorder is expected to be recovered today and will also be sent to PHI's facilities for readout. The aircraft's combination cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder was recovered from the wreckage on Monday and arrived today at the Board's laboratories in Washington, D.C. for readout. Parties to the investigation are the Federal Aviation Administration, PHI, Sikorsky Aircraft and Turbomeca, the engine manufacturer. Information on the progress of the investigation will be released by the Board's Public Affairs Office in Washington. |
Well, we can hope for accurate information. The NTSB seems as bad as the FAA with the preliminary info, though. It's Amelia, not Amelie, and there is no West Lafayette, LA. Nor East, South, or North. It's not that big. I suspect they confused it with the one in Indiana. Easy enough to do, I guess, since they're only a dozen or so states apart. :ugh:
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AirWon,
The good news is the aircraft wreckage has been recovered. Too many times it is not. The weather was unremarkable. Usually it is just the opposite. The aircraft was equipped with data/CVR recorders. Usually they are not. There was a survivor that might be able to describe what happened. Usually there are not any survivors. That means the investigators have a much better chance of determining the actual cause of the mishap as compared to the other worst case scenarios. The ability of the investigators to accurately determine a cause will advance the safety of the aircraft and hopefully go a long ways towards preventing another event from the same cause. There is bad news of course....people have died and one is very badly injured. If we find the CVR and data recorders playing a key role in the investigation and subsequent finding of the actual cause then the need for such equipment as standard fit on offshore aircraft will be strengthened and maybe....just maybe...the GOM will take another step forward by embracing new technology and getting closer to escapiing from the sad state it has been in for all of its existence. Your comment is the typical narrow minded response we seem to get when we try to discuss accidents and their probable causes. We should learn from every single one of these tragedies and do so as soon as possible with a view towards preventing yet another loss of life event. Our hearts go out to the next of kin of those lost but learning from their loss is important. No one has cast any dispersion upon the crew or PHI staff regarding this event and that is as it should be. We have to wait for the facts to be presented in the accident report before we begin that process. |
2nd (at least) NTSB investigation with FDR
No this is not the first NTSB rotorcraft investigation with FDR/CVR. the Copterline S-76 accident in 2005 had both. Neither has a lateral accelerometer though.
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Persch:
This one just might have a lateral accelerometer mounted. From what I understand this C++ was on contract to Shell who usually demand all there aircraft have a HUMS system installed. 212man´s contribution shows that the investigators were recovering maintenance data recorders along with the CVFDR and I am assuming this will mean a HUMS or VXP recorder depending on what PHI fit to there aircraft? |
All the above
PHI's S76C++ have the cvrfdr, hums, and VXP. I think these boxes will be a big help in determining what happened.
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Most SK76C++ only have VXP so no exceedance monitoring. No one has VXP AND a full HUMS on the same aircraft for obvious reasons.
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Persch,
I meant for an N registered, and in particular, GoM aircraft. The Copterline accident report was not an NTSB report - it was an Estonian investigation with NTSB (and others) support. Why the interest in a lateral accelerometer (which clearly it will have, just not recorded on the FDR)? The FDR will have pitch, roll and yaw rate information as well as vertical acceleration. What additional value would lateral 'g' yield? |
Sasless,
Your long winded justification of your "good news" post was almost palatable; until you had to patronise me by calling my post "typically narrow minded". You make a long list of the bloody obvious without reflecting on the very phrase that you used that pissed me off in the first place. Yes we learn by acccidents; yes it's just super to have some flight recorders to open up and check, and how wonderful that the weather was so good so we can probably rule that out. Oh, and yes; too bad some guys died. Methinks you have a little too much time on your hands and are a little too full of yourself. Take some time, reflect on your thoughts and be brief. I look forward to your 6723rd post on this forum...... |
AirWon
Totally agree with your post, both first AND second. It's about time someone questioned Sasless - what current professional pilot has all that time for posts? |
Originally Posted by rotorsailor2
It's about time someone questioned Sasless - what current professional pilot has all that time for posts?
At the age of 60 (see his bio) he may not be as current as you, but he is perfectly entitled to spend time here: as much as he should want IMO, he's earned it :ok: Anyway, this thread is supposed to be about a tragic accident, not about having a pop at another pilot's posting history := |
I'm with you there , John.
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SASless, the problem is, you didn't preface your post with the requisite, trite, 'RIP & Godspeed to all involved' and went straight to making a valid point. What were you thinking?
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Red flag stuff.
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