Two Offshore Passengers in Gulf of Mexico Survive Single Pilot Fatal Incapacitation (Westwind B407 N34BM)
On 26 October 2022 Bell 407 N34BM of Westwind Helicopters ditched into the Gulf of Mexico, about 25 miles south of Morgan City, Louisiana under the partial control of a passenger.
USCG Sikorsky MH-60T Jayhawk FLIR Imagery of Survivors and Wreckage of Westwind Helicopters Bell 407 N34BM in GOM (Credit: USCG District 8 Air Station New Orleans)
The pilot, who had become incapacitated, died. The two passengers were recued by US Coast Guard (USCG) but suffered serious injuries (one a broken back and the other a broken leg).
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released their safety investigation report on 11 September 2024. They determined the Probable Cause as:
The pilot’s loss of consciousness due to a cardiovascular event.
NTSB do however state that:
The pilot’s autopsy did not identify a definitive cause of his loss of consciousness.
The Pilot
The pilot (21435 hours total, 520 hours on type) was 63. The pilot’s LinkedIn page suggests they had flow AW139s for Aramco Sept 2019 to July 2021, joining Westwind in April 2022. His last proficiency check was 3 October 2022, which seems to have followed training on the S-76.
His last medical (Class 1 Without waivers/limitations) occurred on 12 October 2022 – just two weeks before. NTSB report that:
The pilot had a history of high blood pressure for which he had been prescribed the
prescription medication losartan since December 2020. Losartan is not generally considered impairing.
Based on his reported height and mass his Body Mass Index was 29.3; overweight but not quiet obese. The doctor…
…did not document any complaints from the pilot. Physical examination and electrocardiography [ECG] were performed. No concerns were noted…
The Accident Flight
The pilot had departed Westwind’s base at Abbeville, Louisiana at 08:48 with two telecoms technicians from Tampnet who were to perform work on two offshore installations. The pilot shut down on both installations to await the completion of their work. The helicopter departed from the W&T Offshore Ship Shoal 349 (SS349) installation at about 16:31, ETA 17:55.
One passenger was seated in the right rear cabin seat and the other in the left cockpit seat.
While in the cruise at 1,500 ft, the front passenger recalled the pilot saying words to the effect of “this is not good; I am not going to make it.” The pilot told him that it is not a helicopter issue, “it is me” and “I’m overheating.” Then he pilot slumped over and was unresponsive.
The passenger reached over to the flight controls, retarded the throttle, and attempted to control the helicopter until water impact. The rear passenger was awoken by a “change in noise,” and saw the pilot “slumped over” and “the helicopter was descending toward the water”.
The front passenger estimated that he started to control the helicopter about 400 ft above the water, presumably reaching across to the pilot’s controls. At some point during the descent, the passenger activated the skid-mounted Apical float system, using the handle on the pilot’s cyclic.
ADS-B data indicated that at 1710:26, the helicopter was flying in level flight about 1,400 ft mean sea level (msl). About 10 seconds later, the data showed the helicopter make a right descending turn to about 1,100 ft msl. About 5 seconds later, the data showed the helicopter make an abrupt left descending turn to about 800 ft msl. The data showed the helicopter continue to descend through 400 ft msl in a relatively straight flight path for about 11 seconds until the data stopped.
The NTSB estimate water entry was at c17:11.
Survivability & Rescue
NTSB do not discuss the occupants’ Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET) status or what passenger safety briefings had been given.
The helicopter capsized upon water entry. The pilot did not egress the helicopter. Despite their injuries both passengers managed to egress underwater but were unable to attempt to rescue the pilot.
The helicopter was fitted with a fixed Pointer 3000-10 Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT). This did not activate. While not discussed by NTSB it is highly likely that the semi-controlled water entry did not trigger its g-switch and once the aircraft capsized it would have been ineffective even if activated manually or otherwise.
Sunset was due at 18:27, with the end of civil twilight therefore at 19:12. The survivors waited on the belly of the inverted helicopter, firing a flare and releasing dye into the water. They were not equipped with Personal Locator Beacons (PLB) to aid their location and there was nor Survival ELT with the life rafts.
The aircraft was fitted with a SkyConnect satellite tracking system that was ‘polled’ every 5 minutes. Westwind provided the following timeline of their flight following and emergency response to the NTSB (with our comments added):
- 17:20 Received overdue message from SkyConnect [its not clear why this was 9 minutes after ditching if the system expected a transmission every 5 minutes]
- 17:21 Flight follower [FF] requested ops normal through text message SkyConnect
- 17:25 FF called aircraft sat phone. FF initiated Emergency Response Plan (ERP).
- 17:30 FF sent pilot a text on his cell for ops normal.
- 17:35 FF called pilot’s cell phone.
- 17:40 FF called Abbeville [the destination] several times.
- 17:43 FF called [an unspecified] Westwind pilot [presumably at Abbeville] and asked if N34BM landed yet.
- 17:45 FF called base to see if CSR could try and reach him on the radio…the CSR tried several times with no response.
- 17:50 FF called base manager [BM] to notify him of missing aircraft. [25 minutes after the ERP was initiated this appears to be the first notification to management]
- 17:52 FF called [company] president to notify him of missing aircraft.
- 17:55 FF received a call from Westwind pilot reporting she had contacted manned offshore platform Eugene Island (EI65) and asked them to go to their helideck and see if they could see anything.
- 17:57 FF notified BM of the information that EI65 gave to flight following. [Note: its possible this should be that EI65 was contacted as their information appears to have arrived at 18:04]
- 18:00 FF called pilots cell phone again with no response
- 18:02 Flight follower talked with president and notified him of current situation.
- 18:03 Westwind [B407] N1416 launched to last satellite reported coordinates. [Note: 43 minutes after first overdue alert and as the missing aircraft was 35 minutes from Abbeville at that time, its highly likely N1416 would be searching after sunset]
- 18:04 FF received call from EI65 to notify flight following that they could see something in the water due south of them.
- 18:07 BM called seeing if flight following had heard anything yet.
- 18:10 FF called and informed operations coordinator.
- 18:12 BM called and told flight following to call the Coast Guard.
- 18:14 FF called Coast Guard and gave them the information and coordinates of EI65. [So 63 minutes after the ditching, 54 minutes after the aircraft is detected as missing the emergency services are called and 10 minutes after EI65 reported “something” in the water]
- 18:22 Flight follower spoke with president and notified him that the Coast Guard was called.
- 18:36 BM called and informed flight following that there was a boat in route [sic] from EI65.
- 18:36 N1416 spotted wreckage of N34BM…with survivors in water.
The survivors saw N1416 “fly over top of them and guessed that the pilot of that helicopter called the location of the wreckage into the Coast Guard”.
NTSB state that:
While waiting for rescue, a small work boat, coordinated by Westwind stayed until the Coast Guard arrived.
The USCG indicate this was the 32m Capt Ron, and that, in contrast to the NTSB report, the vessel responded to a UCCG Urgent Marine Information Broadcast (UMIB). When it arrived on scene it reported two persons “in a life raft”. It is not clear if the vessel did not or could not affect a rescue.
Subsequent USCG footage from a Sikorsky MH-60T Jayhawk based in New Orleans shows the survivors on the belly of the upturned helicopter, surrounded by the floats and an upturned life raft. the USCH also dispatched an Airbus HC-144 Ocean Sentry (CN-235) from Mobile.
But there is no time of rescue or arrival at hospital given by either NTSB or USCG.
Extra flotation was later added to the wreckage and the body of the pilot recovered by divers.
The Safety Investigation
NTSB do not elaborate but unfortunately:
During salvage operations, most of the helicopter wreckage was lost at sea.
Salvage of Westwind Helicopters Bell 407 N34BM in GOM (Credit: Westwind via NTSB)
The only wreckage recovered was “portions of the intermediate fuselage/baggage compartment, and most of the landing gear skids” with the skid-mounted floats. The Vision 1000 cockpit camera fitted was therefore not recovered.
Wreckage of Westwind Helicopters Bell 407 N34BM in GOM (Credit: Westwind via NTSB)
During the pilot’s autopsy:
The forensic pathologist noted evidence of drowning.
Coronary artery disease was present, with approximately 30-40% narrowing of the left anterior descending coronary artery and right coronary artery and approximately 5-10% narrowing of the left main coronary artery… The heart muscle was described as diffusely softened.
The remainder of the pilot’s autopsy did not identify other significant natural disease
A Previous GOM Fatal Pilot Incapacitation Accident
Just over 9 months earlier, on 14 January 2022, B407 N167RL, of Rotorcraft Leasing (RLC) was destroyed in an accident near Houma, Louisiana. The two occupants were fatally injured.
The NTSB report, issued in July 2023 on the RLC accident, explained that cockpit imagery from a Vision 1000 indicated that, while enroute, the pilot experienced a sudden loss of consciousness.
The recorded video indicated that the 17 January 2022 flight was proceeding normally until about 10:00:50, when the pilot’s head began to fall back in a motion not consistent with scanning for traffic or with directed attention. At the time:
The helicopter was traveling at a speed of about 123 knots and an altitude about 1,220 ft mean sea level.
The view outside the windscreen was consistent with a nose-down, inverted attitude just before the end of the recording. A witness near the accident site stated that he saw the helicopter descend into terrain in a nose-down attitude.
Most of the RLC B407 wreckage was submerged in marshland.
Accident Site: RLC B407 N167RL (Credit: NTSB)
The RLC pilot’s autopsy was limited due to the extensive traumatic injuries. The pilot’s cardiovascular system showed no evidence of natural disease, arrhythmia or other electrical disorder would not have left evidence. The cause of the pilot’s sudden incapacitation could not therefore be determined.
In that case the pilot was aged only 30 and had a Class 2, following a medical on 13 November 2021, 3 months earlier. At that time he reported no medication use or medical conditions. His BMI was 27.8. He was a former US Army tank driver.
Department of Veterans Affairs disability records showed that the pilot had a history
of migraines and tinnitus, but had no diagnosis of traumatic brain injury
Our Observations
This is another example of a Gulf of Mexico accident where the loss of satellite tracking data was followed by a relatively long delay before informing the Coast Guard to initiate a rescue.
The survivors were fortunate in tis case that they ditched within sight of an offshore installation with an adjacent vessel and with just enough time before sunset for a visual search to locate the wreckage.
The emergency response lessons are probably more important than the coincidence of two pilot incapacitations in one region in the same year.
In the UK & EASA Member States, single pilot commercial air transport operations would not be possible with a pilot over 60 with one exception. The expectation was introduced by EASA in 2024 for HEMS pilots. This followed a Literature review regarding Extending age limits of HEMS pilots to 65 years: mental health and cognitive screening. The mitigations required for applicants involved in single-pilot HEMS operations at age 60 or greater included:
- An extended cardiovascular assessment.
- Pulmonary functional tests and obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) screening.
- Comprehensive eye, ear, nose and throat examinations and a colour vision assessment
The W&T Offshore 2022 Corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance Report surprisingly makes no mention of this helicopter accident. It also shows a zero fatality rate for 2022 for contractor staff, presumably on the basis that the pilot died on natural causes while on duty, though the autopsy indicates signs of drowning.
Safety Resources
The European Safety Promotion Network Rotorcraft (ESPN-R) has a helicopter safety discussion group on LinkedIn. You may also find these Aerossurance articles of interest:
- Fatal Offshore S-76C++ LOC-I & Water Impact Brazil 2022: CENIPA Investigation
- CHC S-92A Offshore Landing Obstacle Strike: CENIPA Report
- Urgent Exit Required: A Helideck Incident (Omni Sikorsky S-76C+ PR-SEC)
- Helideck Heave Ho!
- Loss of Control, Twice, by Offshore Helicopter off Nova Scotia
- Strictly Scheduled: S-92A Start-Up Incident
- Offshore Night Near Miss: Marine Pilot Transfer Unintended Descent
- BFU Investigate S-76B Descending to 20ft at 40 kts En Route in Poor Visibility
- 2009 Newfoundland S-92A C-GZCH Accident: A Failure of Design and Certification
- AAIB Report on 2013 Sumburgh Helicopter Accident
- ADA AW139 A6-AWN Ditching off UAE, 29 April 2017: Final Report
- Night Offshore Windfarm HEMS Winch Training CFIT
- NTSB Report on Bizarre 2012 US S-76B Ditching
- Sikorsky S-92A Loss of Tail Rotor Control Events
- S-92A Emergency Landing: MGB Oil Checklist Recommendation
- SAR Helicopter Loss of Control at Night: ATSB Report
- NTSB Investigation into AW139 Bahamas Night Take Off Accident
- Night Offshore Training AS365N3 Accident in India 2015
- Loss of Bell 412 off Brazil Remains Unexplained
- Hong Kong Harbour AW139 Ditching – HKCAD Report Issued
- Dramatic Malaysian S-76C 2013 Ditching Video
- In-Flight Flying Control Failure: Indonesian Sikorsky S-76C+ PK-FUP
- Pilot Induced B407 HEC Power Loss (11 May 2022)
- Incomplete Maintenance Leads to Fatal Collective Control Loss on B407
- Air Ambulance Bell 407 Pitch Links & Swashplate Drive Arm Bent in Double Bird Strike
- Maintenance Distraction in Bell 407 Accident
- B407 Damaged During Autorotation Training
- Vortex Ring State: Virginia State Police Bell 407 Fatal Accident
- RLC B407 Reverses into Sister Ship at GOM Heliport
- Bell 407 Power Loss GOM Ditching: NTSB
- Air Ambulance B407 Hospital Helipad Deck Edge Tail Strike During Shallow Approach
- Unexpected Load: B407 USL / External Cargo Accident in PNG
- NVIS Autorotation Training Hard Landing: Changed Albedo
- Bell 407 Rolls-Royce 250-C47B Uncontained Engine Failure after Bearing Failure
Recent Comments