The National Transportation Safety Board today called on the Federal Aviation Administration to require all U.S.-registered turbine-powered helicopters certificated to carry at least 6 passengers to be equipped with a terrain awareness and warning system. The recommendation is one of five contained in the final report of a fatal helicopter accident in the Gulf of Mexico.
On March 23, 2004, an Era Aviation Sikorsky S-76A++ helicopter, N579EH, crashed into the Gulf of Mexico at about 7:18 p.m., 70 nautical miles south-southeast of Galveston, Texas. Although visual meteorological conditions existed, it was a dark night with very few external visual cues. The aircraft was transporting eight oil service personnel to the Transocean drilling ship Discoverer Spirit; they and the two pilots perished in the crash.
The Board determined that the probable cause of the accident was the flight crew's failure to identify and arrest the helicopter's descent for undetermined reasons, which resulted in controlled flight into the water.
"A terrain warning system would have given the pilots enough time to arrest their descent and save the lives of all aboard," NTSB Acting Chairman Mark V. Rosenker said. "It is well past time for the benefits from these standard safety devices to be made available to passengers on helicopter transports as they are on fixed wing planes. More than 2 million passengers are carried on Gulf of Mexico oil industry operations alone."
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On March 23, 2004, an Era Aviation Sikorsky S-76A++ helicopter, N579EH, crashed into the Gulf of Mexico at about 7:18 p.m., 70 nautical miles south-southeast of Galveston, Texas. Although visual meteorological conditions existed, it was a dark night with very few external visual cues. The aircraft was transporting eight oil service personnel to the Transocean drilling ship Discoverer Spirit; they and the two pilots perished in the crash.
The Board determined that the probable cause of the accident was the flight crew's failure to identify and arrest the helicopter's descent for undetermined reasons, which resulted in controlled flight into the water.
"A terrain warning system would have given the pilots enough time to arrest their descent and save the lives of all aboard," NTSB Acting Chairman Mark V. Rosenker said. "It is well past time for the benefits from these standard safety devices to be made available to passengers on helicopter transports as they are on fixed wing planes. More than 2 million passengers are carried on Gulf of Mexico oil industry operations alone."
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