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The 28-year-old pilot whose helicopter crashed into shallow waters south of Montegut is being mourned by local airmen and workers he had ferried to Gulf of Mexico rigs.
The National Transportation Safety Board, meanwhile, is still actively investigating the incident, which occurred Feb. 27 at around 11:45 a.m.
The body of Matthew Masashi Kawamura, the pilot, was found by the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office Water Patrol about a half mile from the spot where his Bell 407 helicopter was located.
Kawamura worked for Westwind Helicopters Inc. of Galveston. Capt. Mike Ledet and Deputy DJ Authement responded to the crash site, near the mouth of Bayou Barre, in response to a request for assistance from Coast Guard Sector New Orleans. Boats were launched by the Little Caillou and Montegut volunteer fire departments and sent to the scene as well.
According to accounts gathered by The Times, Kawamura was flying solo from the South Timbalier 21 field in the Gulf, after dropping workers off in that area. He was returning to the Houma-Terrebonne Airport, and had told rig workers that he was flying back alone because of a maintenance issue.
“All I knew was that he said he had a slight malfunction, that it wasn’t serious,” said one worker, Jade Duplantis, who was one of Kawamura’s last passengers.
Duplantis, whose time on the job was done shortly after his arrival, had asked Kawamura if he could ride back with him. Kawamura refused because, he said, he was not permitted to carry passengers when there is a malfunction with the aircraft.
Duplantis now copes with the eerie understanding that he could have been on the chopper when it went down.
“I am grateful because I have a 12-year-old now and a baby on the way, I started thinking about that,” Duplantis said. “And then I was sick to my stomach thinking about what might have been. It is very sad anytime we lose anyone on the oilfield. We all work together. His family lost their loved one and he was an excellent pilot. That was my first time flying with him. But I find that in that first flight you can really get to know what kind of person that pilot is.”
The two discussed sushi – one sushi restaurant in the Houma area in particular – during a flight in faultless skies.
“I could tell that he loved his job, just through the way he flew and how thorough he was with everything,” Duplantis said. “He was awesome. He said he was looking forward to traveling back to California to see his little boy.” ·
