History of the flight: On 4 January 2009 at 1409 Central Standard Time, a Sikorsky S-76C Helicopter that was registered to and operated by Petroleum Helicopters, Inc, (PHI), used as an air taxi using visual flight rules, crashed into a marshy area about seven minutes after take-off and 12 miles southwest of Lake Palourde Base Heliport in Amelia Louisiana killing eight of the nine onboard (Gamble, 2010). The helicopter was en route to the South Timbalier oil platform to transport workers from two separate oil exploration companies. There was no flight plan filed with the Federal Aviation Administration nor was one required. There was a flight plan filed with the company’s communication center so weather updates and flight following information could be relayed to the flight crew. According to PHI representatives the flight was tracked using a satellite based fleet-tracking system used by the PHI communication center. The tracking began with the helicopter take-off from Lake Palourde Base Heliport at 1402 and suddenly ended at 1409. There were no reports of any problems from the flight crew on the PHI radio frequencies or emergency channels that are monitored by air traffic control.
Aircraft Information: The helicopter was a 2-year old, 14-seat, twin-engine aircraft equipped with advanced navigation equipment and a combination cockpit voice recorder and flight recorder, enhanced ground proximity warning system, solid state quick access recorder and a VXP vibration recorder. All these devices were recovered and evaluated.
Meteorological Information: The weather on 4 January, reported at 1430 from Amelia LA, was scattered clouds at 1,500 and 3,000 feet with a broken cloud layer at 10,000 feet. Visibility at the time of the crash was 10 miles, winds were out of the south at 6 knots and air temperature was 75 degrees Fahrenheit (Gamble,