Crashed helicopter located; Pilot found dead

The wreckage of a helicopter that was on its way Wednesday to the Patterson airport to refuel was found today in Iberia Parish, according to officials. The pilot of the helicopter was also found deceased.
Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office Chief Criminal Deputy Richard Hazelwood confirmed that the pilot was found dead this morning in Iberia Parish near Bayou Pigeon Boat Landing.
Responders located the crash site around 9 a.m. or 9:30 a.m. this morning north of the St. Mary Parish line in Iberia Parish, St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office Spokeswoman Traci Landry said.
Ken Perry, owner of Perry Flying Center near Patterson, said the helicopter was a pipeline patrol helicopter “that’s been coming through here for years” to make fuel stops at Harry P Williams Memorial Airport.
The pilot was the only person inside the Schweizer 300 helicopter. That type of helicopter “is a little piston-engine helicopter” mostly used for training, Perry said.
The helicopter’s owner, Gulf Coast Helicopters of Pearland, Texas, started calling Perry Flying Center around noon Wednesday to see if the helicopter had come through Patterson, Perry said.
The area where the helicopter was believed to have gone down “is nothing but swamp and marsh,” Perry said.
From what Perry learned, the helicopter left Gonzales on a pipeline patrol following its usual route, which then goes to Lake Fausse Point and along U.S. 90, finally heading east and winding up in Patterson to refuel.
The helicopter isn’t a big one like companies used to fly offshore, Perry said. Adding to the difficulty of finding the helicopter was the bad weather Wednesday morning in that area, he said.
“Phone calls kept coming from, first the company, and then the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and then the flight service and eventually the CAP (Civil Air Patrol) launched,” Perry said.
Gulf Coast Helicopter’s owner flew in Wednesday and was involved in the search this morning, Perry said.
The company is one of Perry’s regular customers. It wasn’t unusual for the helicopter to stop in Patterson, as the flying center was one of its planned fuel stops, Perry said.
The St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office received a call at 8:10 p.m. Wednesday to assist in the search efforts for first responders to come to the area.
Responders searched an area mainly in Iberia Parish Wednesday night, Landry said. The area officials were searching was where the helicopter “may have gone down,” Landry said. St. Mary assisted Iberia Parish officials with the search.
The Civil Air Patrol began searching the area from about 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, St. Mary Parish Squadron Commander Paul Rappmundt said. They started searching again at daylight this morning, he said.
Louisiana State Police also provided air support for the search.
U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Alexandria Preston said the Coast Guard’s New Orleans sector received the initial report of the missing helicopter at 6:32 p.m. Wednesday in the area of the Atchafalaya Basin.
Coast Guard personnel assisted the search Wednesday night, and were on standby to help this morning, Preston said.
Perry had said the pilot may have diverted his route due to bad weather and could have landed “as far north as towards Baton Rouge” and there’s “a lot of swampy area” throughout that region.
Perry has flown many search and rescue missions where the pilot’s path would have taken him.
“That’s some pretty unforgiving territory,” Perry said before the crash site was discovered.
Officials had stopped searching Wednesday night after fog started getting too dense to see in the swamp.
St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s deputies were stationed at the Myette Point boat landing in St. Mary Parish for the search.
An attempt to reach Gulf Coast Helicopters for comment was unsuccessful.