3 charged with burglary in separate incidents in Lafourche
January 16, 2018
Parish stumped over splash park
January 17, 2018
Like the “Back to the Future” movie Delorean’s race to reach 88 mph, Justin Theriot’s ultralight aircraft tore across a Golden Meadow lawn with a lawnmower-like hum.
Blue canvas wings caught the draft, lifting the front tire first as the craft approached a canal, and then came the abrupt halt and a loud crunch.
Suddenly pilot and plane were submerged in the canal.
Justin’s voice got serious as he narrated the Jan. 11 events on the video that memorializes the moment.
He says he nearly died.
The 29-year-ld truck driver was attempting a take to the skies from his fiancé’s parent’s property, on West 225th Street, as he had two times prior in his single seater Quicksilver Ultralight aircraft.
“It was supposed to turn 6000rpm and it only was turning up 2700,” he said. “I should have changed plugs, but I didn’t.”
Justin said the vehicle only had to hit 20mph to fly; however, the plugs on his engine were worn and needed replacing, he said. Because he hadn’t replaced these crucial pieces, Justin explained, the engine wasn’t firing efficiently. When the front wheel left the ground, the vehicle should have begun to take flight and Justin said he had no choice but to keep on the throttle. Had he stopped, his momentum would have sent him into the canal regardless, he said.
Justin said he was later told that he was under the water for five minutes and that his girlfriend, RaeAnn Carline, saved his life by pulling him from the aircraft and attempting to perform CPR, even though she wasn’t trained in it. “I had drowned. She said I had no heartbeat and that my eyes and mouth were wide open.”
Carline did not wish to discuss the matter.
Lafourche Parish Fire District 3 received a call at 7:19am and the first unit on scene was at 7:22am, said training officer Jordan Collins. Collin said it’s been a long time since the department has dealt with an incident involving an aircraft, and the first time he knows of a call involving an ultralight.
Fire department personnel treated Theriot, secured the area, and contacted the Federal Aviation Administration.
“We didn’t really know what to say either,” said Collins. The fact that the it was like a glider, yet had an engine posed a difficulty for the responders in classifying the aircraft. Collins also explained that his department considered taking the aircraft to the local airport, but in the end pulled it from the water and left it on the property.
Lt. Brennan Matherne, spokesman for the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office, said that while officers on scene took notes, ultimately the Sheriff’s office handed the investigation over to the FAA.
Justin was transported to University Hospital in New Orleans for treatment of minor to moderate injuries. At 1 p.m. the same day, he said, he signed himself out.
Regardless of his brush with death, Justin said that he had wanted an ultralight aircraft since he was a child. He traded his dirt bike for three ultralights, and together with RaeAnn, put his first together a little over a month ago.
The aircraft wasn’t damaged in the accident, but had recently been blown over by the wind and damaged a day or two later. Justin has since met another enthusiast who offered to help him repair what was damaged and go on flights with him.
Justin says he isn’t letting one wreck scare him from his passion and that people should expect to see him in the skies again.
