List of Accidents and Incidents Involving General Aviation - 2009

2009

• 4 January – A Sikorsky S-76 Spirit helicopter crashes into a marshy area near Bayou Penchant, Louisiana. The helicopter operated by Petroleum Helicopters, Inc was flying oil workers to a Shell Petroleum Oil Platform in the Gulf of Mexico from Gibson, Louisiana resulting in 8 fatalities and 1 passenger rescued by a United States Coast Guard helicopter.
• February 15 – A Bell 205 Helicopter while flying in dense mist and light rain crashes into Polhuín Hill, Chanco, Cauquenes Province, Chile. The accident occurred when the Bell helicopter owned by Flight Services Helicópteros was ferrying local fire-fighters from a Eucalyptus plantation to a forest fire in the Quirihue Sector of the Eighth Region. The wreckage from the accident was scattered over a large area killing the pilot a former Chilean Airforce officer and 12 fire-fighters from the Celulosa Arauco y Constitucion (CELCO) company.
• February 18 – An Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma Helicopter (G-REDU) flying from the heliport at Aberdeen Airport to a BP ETAP Oil Platform located 120 nautical miles (195 km) east of Aberdeen, Scotland is forced to ditch into the North Sea 500m short of its destination. A major maritime rescue operation for the ditched Super Puma owned by Bond Offshore Helicopters was coordinated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency at the Aberdeen HM Coastguard Rescue Centre involving a RAF Sea King from No. 202 Squadron RAF Lossiemouth and a Nimrod from RAF Kinloss. Three of the passengers were rescued by one of a pair of Bond Helicopters involved in the rescue and the remaining 15 passengers successfully rescued by an oil-rig support vessel. A further Super Puma owned by Bond Helicopters is involved in a second North Sea ditching on 1 April 2009.
• 12 March – A Sikorsky S-92A Helicopter (C-GZCH) flying from St. John's International Airport, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada to the offshore SeaRose FPSO in the White Rose oil field was forced to ditch in the North Atlantic Ocean, 30 nautical miles (56 km) east-southeast of Newfoundland. The Sikorsky S-92 owned by Cougar Helicopters issued a mayday after experiencing low oil pressure in the main gear-box and requesting emergency clearance to return to St.John's airport. The aircraft ditched in the North Atlantic approximately 10 minutes after issuing the mayday at 7:58 am ET resulting in 17 fatalities and 1 passenger rescued from the crash site.
• March 22 – A Pilatus PC-12 flying into Bert Mooney Airport outside Butte, Montana from Oroville, California crashed 500 feet (150 m) short of the runway, around 15:27 local time (21:27 GMT), killing fourteen people.
• April 1 – An Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma (G-REDL) flying from the BP Miller Oil Platform located 168 nautical miles (270 km) north-east from Aberdeen, Scotland to the heliport at Aberdeen Airport crashes into the North Sea 11 nautical miles (20 km) east of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire. The Super Puma helicopter owned by Bond Offshore Helicopters made a brief mayday call at 12:54 pm BST and was then seen to crash 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) from a supply vessel resulting in the death of 2 crew and 14 passengers. The cause of the accident was the catastrophic failure of the main rotor gearbox, which caused the main rotor to detach and severed the pylon and tail boom.