The US NTSB has dispatched four investigators to secure details of a Petroleum Helicopters Inc (PHI) Sikorsky S76C++ that crashed enroute to a Shell offshore oil rig from the company’s Amelia, Louisiana base mid-afternoon on Sunday.
Six of the seven passengers were killed, as were both of pilots. One passenger survived and was in critical condition as of Monday.
NTSB records show PHI helicopters involved in no less than 10 incidents and accidents since 2004.
The company has combined fleet of nearly 300 helicopters according to US FAA records, including aircraft on order, and is involved in a variety of applications including offshore oil transport and emergency medical services.
Sunday’s crash occurred 7min after the 12-passenger twin-engine helicopter departed the Amelia under visual flight conditions. No distress calls were issued.
Two investigators have traveled to PHI’s headquarters in Lafayette, Louisiana to interview company officials and review maintenance and flight crew records. A third investigator went to the accident site to oversee the removal of the helicopter today and a fourth will supervise the downloading of data from one of two aircraft’s maintenance recorder.
The helicopter’s combined voice and aircraft data recorder unit was sent to the NTSB labs in Washington DC. PHI will download the second maintenance recorder.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
