The NTSB has released its preliminary report on the December 29 crash of a Rotorcraft Leasing Bell 407 at the West Delta 106 energy platform helipad in the Gulf of Mexico, off the Louisiana coast. It crashed on takeoff, killing the pilot and three passengers.
The report catalogs physical evidence that suggests the helicopter hit a chain link perimeter skirt around the platform's 24-by-24-foot helipad and then plunged into the water below. It notes that there were no eyewitnesses to, or video of, the accident, either from the platform or the Appareo Vision 1000 camera system aboard the aircraft. The helicopter wreckage and occupants were recovered on January 2. The Appareo image recorder was not found on the platform or in the wreckage, “however, there was extensive fuselage damage in the area that the cockpit image recorder is normally mounted,” according to the report.
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