Donald J. Champagne
September 29, 2009
Jerome Burrell
October 1, 2009
A single engine work plane owned by fish meal manufacturer Daybrook Fisheries crashed near a sugarcane field early Thursday morning just south of the Houma-Terrebonne Airport, killing the pilot, said Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Vernon Bourgeois.
The pilot was identified as Solomon “Gator” Falgout Jr., 61, 9870 East Park Ave. in Houma. Falgout was employed as a pilot for Daybrook, according to a release. The crash site was close to Ashland North Subdivision and Louisiana Highway 56.
No one else was on board the four-passenger plane. Bourgeois said the Terrebonne Parish Coroner’s Office was at the crash site.
The plane took off at approximately 6 a.m., according to the release. Falgout’s last radio communication was received at around 6:05 a.m.
The wreckage was found by another pilot for Daybrook, according to Maj. Malcolm Wolfe with the sheriff’s office. Bourgeois said he did not know where the plane was headed.
Representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration were dispatched to the crash site. Law enforcement officials were securing the area until the FAA’s arrival, Bourgeois said.
Two U.S. Coast guard helicopters flew above the crash site.
“Apparently the craft went straight down, trying to do a landing maneuver,” Bourgeois said. “It was pretty messed up. The wreckage was all in one area.”
Daybrook Fisheries, which is based in Empire in Plaquemines Parish, produces and distributes fish meal and fish oil for use in animal feed. The business was known as Quinn Menhaden Company ad Petrou Fisheries until 1990.
Daybrook Fisheries pilot Solomon Falgout, of Houma, crashed a Cessna 182 Skylane into a wooded, marshy area Thursday, approximately a mile from the Houma-Terrebonne Airport. * Photo courtesy of TERREBONNE PARISH SHERIFF”S OFFICE
