- Date
- January 16, 1982, 13:50 local (19:50 UTC)
- Place
- Houma, LA
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 2 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N1081HBell Helicopter 206L-1
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 16, 1983
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19820116001089A
- Case key
- 71084
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The acft was enroute to the ship shoal area in the gulf of Mexico. Another plt who departed earlier advised the plt that he & another acft had turned around & was returning after encountering a low ceiling & reduced visibility. The surviving pax stated that the acft departed southwest climbing to about 400 ft. as the acft got closer to the edge of the gulf he could see thicker haze, foggy land & the acft dropped down to about 200 ft. it would be clear then obscured & he could not see the ground. 45 sec to 1 min later he could only see white out of the cockpit. Next he was tumbling in the water.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1081H
- Reported as
- Bell Helicopter 206L-1
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 45406
- Airframe hours
- 1,795
- Engine
- Allison 250-C28B, 400 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Offshore Logistics
- Registered owner
- Offshore Logistics
- Departed
- Houma, LA
- Destination
- Houma, LA
- Flight plan
- VFR
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 57
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter, Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 13,982 total · 986 in this make and model · 13,104 as pilot in command · 100 in the last 90 days · 7 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 1 statute miles
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.