Sikorsky S-76A N2620

Summary

On 9 November 1994 at about 02:20 local time, a Sikorsky S-76A registered N2620 was involved in an accident near Cameron, Louisiana, United States. 3 people were on board and one died, 2 had minor injuries. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

9 November 1994 at 02:20

Classification

Accident

Location

Cameron, Louisiana, United States

Nearest airport

Cameron Mobil Heliport (81LA)

Coordinates

29.7894, -93.2895

Aircraft

Sikorsky S-76A

Registration

N2620

Category

Helicopter

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Executive/Corporate

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

BALTIC1 Oil Rig → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

CHI95FA035

1 person died.

the copilot's failure to maintain altitude and the pilot-in-command's inadequate supervision of the operation. Factors include the dark night and low ceiling, and the flightcrew's failure to set the proper altimeter setting.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The crew went visual at the termination of a Copter approach. Conditions were a dark night with 300-400 foot overcast and fog. The point where the crew went visual was over the water, 1 mile offshore. The only visual references available were several lights on land, approximately 4 miles ahead. The local altimeter was 30.02. The captain's altimeter was set at 30.05 and the copilot's was set at 30.12. These settings would result in the captain's altimeter indicating 30 feet high, and the copilot's altimeter indicating 100 feet higher than the actual altitude. The copilot flying transitioned from instruments to an outside visual scan, for a transition to the landing site. The non-flying captain was looking down while changing radios. Neither pilot was aware of a descent until the level impact with the water. The helicopter came to rest submerged, inverted, with all windows on the left side broken. The copilot escaped through his missing window. The captain was not able to open his door and became disoriented. He exhausted the air in his emergency air bottle during the 4 minutes it took him to egress. The passenger drowned.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.