i remember reading something about this terrible accident, i think on the old forum...in west terrebonne parish near bayou penchant.

Bird Strike Is New Suspect In Helicopter Crash, 2/17/09, The Wall Street Journal – Federal investigators increasingly suspect that a [1/4/09] collision with a bird led to the crash last month of a widely used Sikorsky helicopter model that killed eight people in the Gulf of Mexico, according to industry officials and safety experts.

Dayum, I just got back from HUET today, had a guy in that class that worked on that platform. According to their numbers, there is a "ditching" in rotar craft 2/100,000hrs. for fixed wing it is .2/100,000hrs.

I'd be willing to bet if they decided to tell the truth there would be a ditching in rotorcraft more than 2/100,000 hours.. When I was working out there I think PHI lost about 5 a/c in 2 years and Air Log and ERA were on the same schedule.. We only lost one and I'm proud to say it wasn't my fault this time.. lol.. Maybe that figure is the total company flight hours.. If so, when you have 300+ helicopters it doesn't take long to add up those kind of hours

We were filming a movie in N. GA and had a turkey buzzard come through the front windshield.. Bought totaled the airframe.. Took us the better part of 8 months to repair and recertify.. Shoulda seen the inside of the cockpit.. WOW!

yea, I think all the companies try real hard to keep them in the air, I will still take one of those over a crew or work boat any day.

I saw some pics from an Arkansas Air Ambulance that went into some snow geese. nasty-

A super Puma ditched in the North Sea yesterday. It had 11 crew members of the GSF Galaxy aboard, 18 passengers total. Fortunately, all 18 were rescued with little or no injury.