Quincy pilot was at helm of helicopter that crashed off Texas

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

Coast Guard rescue teams are searching the waters off the Texas coast after a helicopter piloted by a Quincy man crashed yesterday morning, killing at least three passengers.

Joe Laugelle, a helicopter pilot for WCVB-TV, was at the helm of a helicopter carrying four passengers to an oil platform 18 miles off the coast of Sabine Pass, Texas, when it crashed into the Gulf of Mexico, according to a co-worker at the local news station.

Coast Guard officials have recovered three bodies, along with debris from the crash site, but continue to hold out hope that the other two passengers will be found alive. Officials would not disclose the identities of the bodies that had been found.

"We are treating this as an active search and rescue case," said Coast Guard Petty Officer Renee C. Aiello.

Laugelle, 43, traveled between Texas and Massachusetts every two weeks for work, said Michael Young, a fellow pilot at WCVB. Laugelle is married with two young children, ages 7 and 9, Young said.

"He's a family man," Young said today in a phone interview. "He went down there to help support his family."

Laugelle, who had flown part-time for WCVB for more than a year, had extensive experience flying in the Gulf, Young said. He had to travel for work because there are limited opportunities for pilots in New England, he said.

"He was adventurous, a free spirit, but also very kind," he said. "He would give you the shirt off his back. He was a great friend to me."

Officials believe the helicopter crashed about 2 miles off shore near the Texas-Louisiana border, Aiello said. Water temperatures are below 60 degrees.

The Coast Guard was notified at 9:47 a.m. after the helicopter crew missed scheduled radio check-ins with officials at Rotorcraft Leasing Co. L.L.C., a Louisiana company that provides helicopter services to the oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico.

The helicopter took off during a winter snowstorm, but a Rotorcraft official told a Texas newspaper that the weather was not a factor in the crash.

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