Accident Sikorsky S-76A N2620,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 38477
 
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Date:Tuesday 8 November 1994
Time:22:20 LT
Type:Silhouette image of generic S76 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Sikorsky S-76A
Owner/operator:Mobil Admin Svcs Co, Inc
Registration: N2620
MSN: 760211
Year of manufacture:1982
Total airframe hrs:12121 hours
Engine model:Allison 250-C30
Fatalities:Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage: Destroyed
Category:Accident
Location:GOM, 2 mi SE Cameron, LA -   United States of America
Phase: Approach
Nature:Executive
Departure airport:Baltic1 Oil Rig, LA
Destination airport:(81LA)
Investigating agency: NTSB
Confidence Rating: Accident investigation report completed and information captured
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.

Probable Cause: 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.

Accident investigation:
cover
  
Investigating agency: NTSB
Report number: CHI95FA035
Status: Investigation completed
Duration: 1 year and 7 months
Download report: Final report

Sources:

NTSB CHI95FA035

History of this aircraft

Other occurrences involving this aircraft
14 June 1992 N2620 Mobil Oil Explor Prod Se Inc 0 Morgan City, LA sub

Location

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
24-Oct-2008 10:30 ASN archive Added
12-Jun-2010 08:52 TB Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Location, Destination airport]
01-May-2016 16:41 Aerossurance Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
13-Jul-2016 08:35 Aerossurance Updated [Narrative]
21-Dec-2016 19:23 ASN Update Bot Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency]
09-Apr-2024 18:23 ASN Update Bot Updated [Time, Operator, Other fatalities, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category, Accident report]

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