- Date
- January 29, 1992, 06:20 local (12:20 UTC)
- Place
- E.I. Blk 108
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N65603Bell 206L-3
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Dawn
- Status
- Completed · report June 11, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920129003189A
- Case key
- 18438
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain altitude above the water. Factors were the pilot attempting flight into known adverse weather conditions of fog and low ceilings during dawn light conditions.
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 pilot of the off shore based helicopter attempted to fly to a satellite off shore oil platform in foggy dawn instrument meteorological conditions. During the approach to the destination platform, visual reference was lost and the helicopter impacted into the water, rolled over and sank. No mechanical malfunction or failure was reported by the pilot.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N65603
- Reported as
- Bell 206L-3
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 51428
- Airframe hours
- 1,282
- Engine
- Allison 250C-30, 650 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Industrial Helicopters Inc.
- Registered owner
- Industrial Helicopters Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · January 9, 1992 · 67 hours before
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
- 45
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter, Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 7,787 total · 4,660 in this make and model · 7,500 as pilot in command · 238 in the last 90 days · 72 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Dawn
- Wind
- 90° at 15 knots
- Lowest ceiling
- 300 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 55 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.