KLFY TV
Aired the
following report on 03/07/07
It is listed
in text version below. To see how it looked on their web
site, you can click on the link below or
download it in .PDF format here.
When using the link below you will also be able to watch the
video clip
by clicking the link on the right side of their page. I am
working on making the video available directly from this
site as well.
Please note that
the news report inaccurately states that John's aircraft was
blown into the platform by high winds. The NTSB report does
NOT state this.
Although the aircraft contacted the flare boom of the
platform and the preliminary NTSB report indicates high
winds at the accident site, this is not to be
misinterpreted"
http://www.klfy.com/Global/story.asp?S=6191246
Helicopter Pilot in Gulf Crash Led Amazing Life
March 7, 2007 10:08 AM CST
Federal investigators have released their preliminary
findings in connection with February's chopper crash in the
Gulf that claimed the lives of two people.
But those findings don't tell the whole story. The story of
a helicopter pilot who had a life long dream to fly, but
didn't start doing it until he was in his 40's.
Once he realized that dream his career and his life were cut
all too short.
Most commercial helicopter pilots learn to fly at a
relatively young age in the military, but that wasn't true
of John Lancaster.
According to a website dedicated in his honor, Lancaster
spent the first 20 years of his life as a ski instructor who
made his living in and around Vail, Colorado.
Photographs from those days show him catching plenty of air.
And even years earlier it was the same story.
As a young man riding a galloping horse, with his arms
stretched out like the wings of bird in flight.
But Lancaster waited until he was more than 40 years old to
fly professionally when he became a commercial helicopter
pilot.
After graduating from a flying school in Florida, Lancaster
worked in Minnesota before hiring on with Era Helicopters in
Lake Charles.
By industry standards Lancaster had only been working
offshore for a short time ferrying personnel from rig to rig
when he died.
According to the accident report Lancaster was flying his
helicopter and was attempting to land on this production
platform, Vermilion 200, when a strong cross wind pushed his
chopper into a flare boom.
The force of the collision could be felt throughout the
entire platform.
And it sent Lancaster and his passenger 33-year-old David
Thibodeaux of Abbeville crashing into the water some 100
feet below.
That night their bodies were recovered along with the
remains of the chopper.
According to a posting on Lancaster's website he'll be
remembered as a man who died doing what he loved.
A final report on the accident could be out by the end of
the year.
http://www.johnlancastermemorial.com/
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