ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 38477
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| Date: | 08-NOV-1994 |
| Time: | 20:20 |
| Type: |  Sikorsky S-76A |
| Owner/operator: | Mobil Administrative Services (MASCI) |
| Registration: | N2620 |
| MSN: | 760211 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 3 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | GOM, 2 mi SE Cameron, LA -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Offshore |
| Departure airport: | Baltic-1 Oil Rig (HI-572C) |
| Cameron, LA | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The helicopter was destroyed, the single passenger drowned, and the two pilots on board sustained minor injuries.
The crew went visual at the termination of a Copter approach. Conditions were a dark night with 300-400 foot overcast and fog. The point where the crew went visual was over the water, 1 mile offshore. The only visual references available were several lights on land, approximately 4 miles ahead. The local altimeter was 30.02. The captain's altimeter was set at 30.05 and the copilot's was set at 30.12. These settings would result in the captain's altimeter indicating 30 feet high, and the copilot's altimeter indicating 100 feet higher than the actual altitude. The copilot flying transitioned from instruments to an outside visual scan, for a transition to the landing site. The non-flying captain was looking down while changing radios. Neither pilot was aware of a descent until the level impact with the water.
The helicopter came to rest submerged, inverted, with all windows on the left side broken. The copilot escaped through his missing window. The captain was not able to open his door and became disoriented. He exhausted the air in his HEED emergency air bottle during the 4 minutes it took him to egress. The captain stated that the only reason he survived was that he carried his own HEED bottle. The HEED is designed to provide approximately four minutes of breathing oxygen, which varies with temperature and workload. The passenger drowned.
The outbound flight had carried cargo in the cabin. The following items were found unrestrained in the passenger cabin of the helicopter after recovery: Two 15 x 15 foot sheets of plastic, two aluminum deck plates which measured 3 feet by 4 feet, 11 life jackets, and a variety of small items normally carried in the cabin.
CAUSE: the copilot's failure to maintain altitude and the pilot-in-command's inadequate supervision of the operation. Factors include the dark night and low ceiling, and the flightcrew's failure to set the proper altimeter setting.
Sources:
https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20001206X02565&key=1
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 24-Oct-2008 10:30 | ASN archive | Added |
| 12-Jun-2010 08:52 | TB | Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Location, Destination airport] |
| 01-May-2016 16:41 | Aerossurance | Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 13-Jul-2016 08:35 | Aerossurance | Updated [Narrative] |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:23 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
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