Water temp in that part of the Gulf is about 21 degrees C, or about 70 degrees F. Should be survivable for awhile.
Posted on 03/24/2004 8:30:56 AM PST by deport
Coast Guard searching for missing helicopter in Gulf
09:59 AM CST on Wednesday, March 24, 2004
HOUSTON - The U.S. Coast Guard was searching the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday for a missing helicopter that had 10 people aboard.
The chartered helicopter was en route from Galveston to an oil exploration ship about 130 miles east of South Padre Island. The helicopter's last radio transmission came from the pilot just after 7 p.m. Tuesday when it was about 90 miles south of Galveston.
"We are hoping that something went wrong and they maybe landed on a different platform," Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Adam Wine said. "We are hoping for the best."
There was no signs of the helicopter Wednesday morning after an overnight search. The search was first concentrated closer to Corpus Christi but has since moved northeast toward Galveston, Wine said.
The helicopter left Galveston at 6:45 p.m. and was heading to the 835-foot ship Discoverer Spirit. There were no reports of inclement weather, Wine said.
The helicopter is owned by Era Aviation in Lake Charles, La., where the charter is based.
Mona Morris, who works for Era Aviation, said the company did have an "overdue" aircraft, but had no information on it Wednesday morning. She said the company would be issuing a statement when more was known.
The missing twin-engine helicopter, a Sikorsky S-76A, can hold up to 12 passengers and is described as a "reliable helicopter ... capable of carrying cargo and passengers offshore, day or night and in reduced weather conditions," according to the company's Web site.
Era Aviation's employees are trained on sophisticated flight simulators and are taught water survival skills, according to the Web site.
Guy Cantwell, a spokesman for Transocean Inc., an offshore drilling company, said his company owns the drill ship the helicopter was traveling to, but none of the company's employees were aboard the helicopter.
"We are concerned," he said Wednesday morning.
March 24, 2004, 9:47AM
Copter carrying 10 missing in Gulf
By S.K. BARDWELL
Copyright 2004 Houston ChronicleThe Coast Guard is searching the Gulf this morning for a helicopter that disappeared last night on its way from Galveston and to an oil exploration ship off South Padre Island. Ten people were onboard.
The Sikorsky S76 took off from Scholes International Airport in Galveston at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, said U.S. Coast Guard officials.
The copter was last heard from at 7:12 p.m., when the pilot, a 50-year-old El Lago man, radioed that he was enroute to the Discovery Spirit, an 835-foot ship anchored 130 miles east of South Padre, authorities said.
At the time of that transmission, officials said the helicopter was 90 miles south of Galveston, which is the center of the search area this morning.
The Coast Guard has issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast asking that all ship and air traffic in the area be on the lookout for the missing helicopter. Coast Guard officials said several merchant vessels have joined the search.
Searchers also are using a helicopter and a small jet from the U.S. Coast Guard Station in Corpus Christi, and a helicopter from Houston in the search, as well as several Coast Guard ships. The helicopter belongs to Era Aviation, a unit of Houston-based Rowan Co., an oil-field services company.
Water temp in that part of the Gulf is about 21 degrees C, or about 70 degrees F. Should be survivable for awhile.
Some observations:
The Sikorsky S-76A is a fairly large ship, and, from my experience, a very reliable one.
When a helicopter's main rotor freezes up, it falls like a rock, but the pilot has plenty of warning that the rotor is freezing.
A big red "chip" light comes on, and action is taken immediately.
All pilots are trained in auto-rotating down.
Having been in this situation one time, it's not fun (in fact, it's hairy as hell!), but it's survivable.
If he landed on his pontoons in calm seas, he should have been okay.
This flight took off at 6:45 P.M. That's a night flight.
Those are not regularly scheduled in the States unless it's an emergency.
Era has always been a good safe company.
This flight was going to a drill ship 130 miles off Padre Island.
It wasn't stated that this ship was in the drilling process, but it's position indicates that it wasn't.
Unless my memory is fuzzy, 130 miles is not off the Continental Shelf.
Oil companies usually don't hire expensive drill ships to drill in coastal waters.
I suspect that it was waiting on a drilling assignment which doesn't negate an emergency flight, but it makes me think it might not have been necessary.
I've flown thousands of miles in helicopters all over the world.
The U.S. has the best in the business, but accidents do happen.
I doubt seriously that this pilot landed on the wrong platform.
They call in each time they land and tell the land dispatcher their location.
I will pray that the men are found unharmed.
I know the feeling.
March 24, 2004, 3:10PM
Helicopter carrying 10
By KEVIN MORAN
from Galveston missing in Gulf
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
The Coast Guard is searching the Gulf this morning for a helicopter that disappeared last night on its way from Galveston to an oil exploration ship off South Padre Island. Ten people were onboard.
Petty Officer Andy Kendrick said searchers are looking in a 35 mile by 80 mile area surrounding an oil slick spotted about 120 miles south of Galveston.
"We hope it wasn't theirs," he said.
The Sikorsky S76 took off from Scholes International Airport in Galveston at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday.
The copter was last heard from at 7:12 p.m., when the 50-year-old pilot, Tim O'Neal of El Lago, radioed that he was enroute to the Discoverer Spirit, an 835-foot ship anchored 130 miles east of South Padre.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Jonathan McCool said the helicopter was equipped with a beacon that should have automatically sent out a signal if the copter had crashed.
"The Coast Guard . . . never received that signal, so that is still a mystery," he said.
At the time of its last radio transmission, the helicopter was 90 miles south of Galveston. Now the Coast Guard is concentrating its search further south, closer to the mile-long oil slick. The water temperature in that area averages in the upper 60s at this time of year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"We are hoping that something went wrong and they maybe landed on a different platform,'' Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Adam Wine said. "We are hoping for the best.
The Coast Guard said the helicopter's occupants were required to wear life jackets, and the copter carried two 12-man life rafts.
"It just depends on how they landed,'' Kendrick said. "We just keep searching, hoping they are alive.''
The helicopter belongs to Era Aviation, a unit of Houston-based Rowan Co., an oil-field services company. In addition to Era's pilot and co-pilot, one of the passengers was employed by Unocal, the California energy giant that had chartered the copter. A company spokeswoman said the other seven passengers were contractors.
The Coast Guard said that in addition to the Unocal worker, the copter was ferrying four Halliburton employees, two Offshore Energy Services employees and one Dril-Quip employee. Their identities are not being released until their families have been notified.
"Obviously, its a situation of great concern anytime anything like this happens. We are looking hard to find and rescue these guys," said Unocal spokeswoman Christine LeLaurin.
Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall said the company is focused on the search and rescue effort.
"This is a very difficult time for the Halliburton family. Our thoughts are with our employees traveling on the helicopter and their families," she said.
The Coast Guard has issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast asking that all ship and air traffic in the area be on the lookout for the missing helicopter. Coast Guard officials said several merchant vessels have joined the search.
Searchers also are using a Coast Guard helicopter from Houston's Ellington Field and a small jet from the U.S. Coast Guard Station in Corpus Christi, as well as several Coast Guard ships.
Chronicle staffers S.K. Bardwell and Eric Hanson contributed to this report, along with the Associated Press.
Not good.
I hesitate to make any comments.
There might be a loved one reading this.
They've had a day to make contact from that hypothetical platform, and it hasn't happened. Unfortunately, these accidents happen. I lost a good friend almost 20 years ago on a similar flight.
At this point, they're hoping to find survivors in the ocean, although the track record of surviving this type of accident is not good.
Prayers for the families.
March 25, 2004, 5:49PM
Four bodies ID'd in Gulf helicopter crash
By KEVIN MORAN
Copyright 2004 Houston ChronicleGALVESTON - With hope fading fast, the Coast Guard and oil-field workers continued searching today for possible survivors from a missing 10-passenger helicopter, but four bodies pulled from the Gulf were identified today as belonging to the pilot, co-pilot and two passengers.
The Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office identified the bodies of pilot Tim B. O'Neal, 50, of El Lago; co-pilot Donald J. Janning, 46, of Monument, Colo.; Offshore Energy Services employee Trampas Terwillegar, 27, from Rayne, La.; and Halliburton worker Tyler Breaux, 23, of Houma, La.
Halliburton issued a statement confirming the death of employee Breaux. "Halliburton extends its sincere condolences to his family," the statement reads. "This continues to be a very difficult time for the Halliburton family and we are deeply saddened by this tragic event and the sudden loss of our co-worker."
Still missing are David Kamolsiri, 24, who lived on Kirby Drive in Houston, and was a Unocal engineer; Jason Petitjean, 34, of Rayne, La.; Craig Bally, 43; Thomas Jackson, 37, of Houma, La.; Andre Lake, 36, of Trinidad; and Jeff Langley, 42, of Kountze.
All the passengers were oil-field workers headed to the drilling ship Discoverer Spirit to do a job for Unocal, including one Unocal employee and seven contractors: four from Halliburton, one from Dril-Quip and two from Offshore Energy Services from Rayne, La.
The search began when the helicopter was first reported missing Tuesday night. Today's search focused on two main areas, 60 miles south of Galveston, where searchers have been finding debris but no more bodies in water about 120 feet deep.
The copter's radar dome with the owner's name -- Era Aviation -- was found floating about 30 miles northwest of the areas where most of the other debris has been found, but Coast Guard Lt. Rob Wyman said strong winds and waves could easily account for that. Although conditions improved today, there were still 16-knot winds and three- to five-foot seas.
Despite temperate waters around 60 degrees, Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Adam Wine said the estimated time of survival in such conditions would be about 30 hours. The helicopter, which was on its way to an oil exploration ship off Padre Island, took off from Galveston's Scholes International Airport at 6:45 p.m Tuesday and was last heard from at 7:12 p.m.
In addition to Coast Guard cutters, jets and helicopters that have been searching since Tuesday night, the victims' companies are also joining in the search. Unocal has sent four boats, and Era Aviation has sent at least five aircraft.
"The industry people have been very, very involved from the beginning," Wyman said.
Offshore Energy Services confirmed the death of one its employees, Terwilligar.
"He was a superhard worker and very well-liked," said J.J.Wiggins, a spokesman for the Lafayette, La, company.
Wiggins said the company's other employee onboard, Petitjean, was, too.
"You just can't say enough nice things about the both of them, actually," he said.
Ed Thiele, a spokesman for Era Aviation, said the company had no clues yet why the helicopter went down. "It had a good safety record," he said.
Thiele and Coast Guard officials in New Orleans said they do not recall a helicopter as large as the Sikorsky -- with as many people aboard -- going down in the Gulf of Mexico.
Chronicle staffers Eric Hanson, Ruth Rendon and S.K. Bardwell contributed to this report, along with the Associated Press.
Weather shouldn't have been a factor that night and choppers don't normally plunge into the sea without warning. It won't help these poor souls, but it would be nice to know what happened so that it can be prevented in the future.
The oil business works 24 hours a day and these helicopters were probably seeing far more flight time than in prior years.
Why a night flight?
The drill ship was anchored in 120' of water. Oil companies don't use drill ships in 120' of water.
That's jack-up country.
If it wasn't drilling, why was it necessary to make a night flight?
I suspect that Unocal is going to have to answer that question in the deposition.
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