Rotocrash falls out the sky again
 

Here's the pic:

Yeah, thats all I need to see the day before I go offshore.

Ouch, that sucks. Who do you fly?

Are you ready for this!!!!!!!!

"Who do you fly"??????

Sad to say, but it is normally whoever has the cheapest bid!

That REALLY sucks!!! You don't work with somebody that has a contract with one of the companies?

Thats not rotocraft. That's an Air Logistics bird.

Air Log.
 

Looks like Air Log to me too.

Ya'll may think I'm lying, but that is my loop bird. Just so happens I am on my days off. You can ask Cabwiz. I was on the phone with my wife while we met in the parking lot. The pilot, which is one of the best that I have ever flown with sustained some bumps and bruises. The operator on board, which happens to be a former full time guide on Big Lake sustained a fractured L2 and L3 vertebrae. Said he will be out for about 4 months, but considereing the circumstances, I'm sure he'll never be back. The preliminary investigation of the aircraft found that one of the fitting for the fuel lines came loose. The operator, which I have woked with many times, said that as they took off and gaining altitude that they heard a pop and then the engine quit. As soon as the engine quit, the helicopter took an immediate nose dive. The operator on board says he gives the pilot all the credit in the world to for saving both of their lives. He corrected that nose dive just in time and they hit the water in a semi landing position. The passenger side chin bubble shattered and the helicopter started taking on water immediately, that's how the operator got out. He managed to inflate his vest and he heard the pilot screaming. The pilot was covered in jet fuel. The pilot managed to pop the floats after the helicopter rolled upside down. I agree, RLC does not have the best of track records. My company president is pissed right now. If ya'll remember, last year right before Christmas, I lost a very dear friend right off of Sabine Pass. That crash happened right after Island Operating switched to RLC after Air Logisitcs sold most of their helicopters. I go offshore tomorrow, and we are having a meeting with the big whigs when we get to the heliport. Thank God, no one lost their life. If anyone has any questions, just ask. RD

Air log sold around 53 helicopters to RLC last year. RLC has not painted them all yet.

thanks for the clarification RD.... u da man !!

Some of them guys who died in the snow crash worked with my little sister. She is a contractor for ElPaso. I think she said the platforms were owned by Elpaso at one time, or the guys worked contract work for ElPaso.

pretty cool picture...

Actually Ray, they did take care of some El Paso platforms. The platform they were going to that morning though belonged to Tana Exploration. I've had a few of their platforms myself and they get pushy when production is down.

Not cool when you flew in that thing a week ago.

Bingo, I work for Air Log in New Iberia and that is exactly right!

T Red, that is N272M that's in the pic.

there are a few more pics floating around out there, if you look closley at the liferaft on the right on the forward side of the aircraft (nose) there is a survivor trying to flip or get onto the raft.

I seen that, and noticed that it was upside down.

I bet it wasn't fun for the guy with the broken back.

sad to see ..but glad those guys are alive......as a helicopter mechanic..i hate flying in them....they are basically flying bricks...

We normally fly Air log in Galliano....but just found out tomorrow we will be riding in a crew boat out of Fourchon

We have some nice 10 ft. rolling swells out here right now.

Good...........I'll sleep like a baby on the crew boat

Guess I won't be flying tomorrow then. New rule that was implemented some time back.

We are in 4000 ft. of water. The swells tend to be a little bigger out here than in shallower water. How deep are you?

280 ft. But the new rule implemented states that if the seas are over 10ft we cannot fly.

I worked in 300 ft. before coming out here. Swells can get pretty big in 300 ft. too.

Thats the bird that flies the 539/540 loop? Not the same pilot that used to fly the B-Model that stayed out there.. I cant remember his name but he was a master instructer..

I'm contracted to Apache, which was a big part of Rotocrafts business. We flew out of Creole. Last year, a list of complaints was made and brought to Rotocrafts attention. These problems were not fixed so we switched to PHI in Cameron. Thank God I don't have to fly anymore. Don't have to leave land to go to work now. Glad no one was killed.

Roto craft
 

I know a guy who flew Rotocraft out of Patterson working for Apache. He said before take off one morning they were working on the helicopter,and the mechanic was beating on the tail rotor with a shovel. He said that was when he decided to find a job inland and came to work with me.

I worked in aviation as a stryctural and hydraulics mechanic and I can tell you no aircraft mechanic is going to beat on an aircraft with a shovel, especially a tail rotor. Sorry man.

Thin skin on a helicopter. Won't be hard to see where the beating happened.

I held the main rotor blade up with a broom once while trying to start up in high winds.. lol

Broom
 

Done that a few times myself on a 206L model. After the first 2 or 3 rounds, it will stay up on it's own and not hit the tail. But I don't see that anymore. They either manually turn the helicopter around, or don't start up.

Had our meeting this morning with seven RLC big wigs. The accident was not a component failure, but human error. They are investigating the maint log and narrowed it down to a couple of mechanics who worked in that area. Some sort of air line for the fuel system came disconnected.

RD, seas are 6 to 8, have a good trip out... LOL

We got out about an hour ago.

I seen they laid down a little when I did the poopy patrol this morning.

[quote=longsidelandry;71899]That REALLY sucks!!! You don't work with somebody that has a contract with one of the companies?[

As a consultant, we fly with whoever the operator has contracted with for transportation. I have been on PHI, Air Log, Evergreen, ERA, RotoCraft, and Texas Heli. I can tel you any of them are subject to incidents and it is just a fact, if it is something mechanical and humans work on it, things happen.

As a former medic with 13 years of working in La., I have seen my share. Lost several friends over the years, AirMed 1 crash on I-49, AirMed 3 midair crash - Houma airport, Unocal crash GOM - they all claimed lives of good people just trying to make a living. I say a little prayer, hug my wife and kids a little tighter, and put my life in the hands of the professionals that are doing an overall good job of keeping us safe in the GOM.

And just FYI, Air Med is no longer operated by PHI. Metro Aviation now has the contract w/ Acadian Ambulance, and they also have a new EC-135 bird out of Lafayette which is really nice, just hope I am on the working end of it and not the patient end when I fly in it!

When I worked out of Cameron, I flew every day, sometime more than twice a day or more.
Now, I fly out once and fly back in 14 days later. Much more better.