9 Men Vanished, 1975

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http://www.planecrashinfo.com/1975/1975-63.htm

ACCIDENT DETAILS
Date:November 03, 1975Time:13:02Location:Gulf of MexicoOperator:Petroleum HelicopterFlight #:?Route:?AC Type:Bell 212Registration:N90057cn / ln:?Aboard:9 (passengers:8 crew:1)Fatalities:9 (passengers:8 crew:1)Ground:0Summary:The helicopter crashed after the main rotor failed. No occupants ever found.

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The pilot of the craft was
identified as Chad Clay, 41,
of Lafayette. The others
aboard were listed as
Randolph LuCoste, 49, of
Morgan City;- Joseph P.
Chambers, 29, New
Orleans; Hardy Evans, in
his late 30s, Centerville;
Donald D. Deshotel, Jennings;
Francis Richard,
Evangeline; James T.
Barker, Jr., Tioga, Joseph
Barnaba, Opelousas, and
Larry Lewis, Lafayette.
Ages of the last five men
were unavailable.

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Searchers Find
Copter Wreckage
New Orleans(UPI)
Coast Guard searchers
Tuesday found floating
debris "from a helicopter
which disappeared with
nine men aboard on a
OSmile f l i g h t to the
Louisiana coast from a Gulf
of Mexico oil rig. None of
the missing men was found.
"We've had absolutely no
traces of human life except
a shaving kit," said Coast
Guard spokesman Dave
Cipra. "No traces of the
pilot or passengers at all."
Wreckage of the twinengine
Bell 212 helicopter,
which disappeared Monday,
was found in the gulf
by the crew of a Coast
Guard helicopter and
picked up by a Coast Guard
cutter. Before it disappeared,
the ferrying
helicopter sent a radio
message that it would be
diverting from its planned
course due to bad weather.
"It was really just a fluke
sighting," Coast Guard
spokesman Ken Freeze
said. "The life raft our
helicopter spotted wasn't
even from this (missing)
helicopter, as it turned out.
It must have fallen off a rig
a long time ago or
something, with barnacles
and had been in the water- a
lot more than 24 hours."
The helicopter, owned by
Petroleum Helicopters,
Inc., of Lafayette, La., was
en route to Intracoastal
City, C5 miles from . the
Tenneco Oil Co. rig Martin i
where it picked up
crewmen before the crash.
All of the men aboard were
from Louisiana.
Seas in the search area
were from one to two feet
with 10 knot winds and
excellent visibility.
"Sometimes if it's flat
calm, we have trouble
sighting things on the
water, but this way they
bob up and down and we
can see them faster," Cipra
said.More than a dozen Coast
G u a r d and p r i v a t e
helicopters and rescue
craft converged on the
scene, 73 miles southwest of
Intracoastal City.
The missing helicopter
was equipped with rescue
gear, but it was not known
whether the men had been
able to set up the equipment
before the crash.
The pilot of the craft was
identified as Chad Clay, 41,
of Lafayette. The others
aboard were listed as
Randolph LuCoste, 49, of
Morgan City;- Joseph P.
Chambers, 29, New
Orleans; Hardy Evans, in
his late 30s, Centerville;
Donald D. Deshotel, Jennings;
Francis Richard,
Evangeline; James T.
Barker, Jr., Tioga, Joseph
Barnaba, Opelousas, and
Larry Lewis, Lafayette.
Ages of the last five men
were unavailable.
The Galveston Daily News
Wednesday Morning, November 5, 1975