- Date
- January 4, 1984, 06:55 local (12:55 UTC)
- Place
- Morgan City, LA
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N5792XAerospatiale AS-355F
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19840104000209A
- Case key
- 21098
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 plts in a helicopter encountered foggy weather during a positioning flt and crashed into a lake about 4 mi from the departure point, a fisherman who witnessed the accident said the acft descended into the water in a nose low attitude. The acft skipped and tumbled for about 100 yards before it sank. Plts, who were searching in the area & that there was a scud layer between 100 & 300 ft AGL. A couple of aircrews reported that shortly after takeoff, their windspeeds foggedup on both the inside & outside, reducing their forward visibility. Additionally, the plts reported difficulty maintaining a visible horizon below 300 ft AGL.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5792X
- Reported as
- Aerospatiale AS-355F
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 5106
- Airframe hours
- 1,723
- Engine
- Allison 250C-20F, 420 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 91
- Registered owner
- Petroleum Helicopters,Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · December 26, 1983 · 10 hours before
- Departed
- 7R3
- Flight plan
- Company 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
- 54
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter, Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Right
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 10,586 total · 607 in this make and model · 10,121 as pilot in command · 182 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 2 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 50 ft broken
- Temperature
- 48 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SAWR, 2 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.