Ukraine Says It Doesn't Want U.S. A-10s (Updated) - AVweb

As hard as the helicopter hit the ground there was a definite possibility of witness marks on the instruments face or possibly some type of GPS.

ADS-B data show altitude, flight direction & velocity. They have surmised a left-banked dive from these.
In my opinion, given the descent rate immediately after a zoom climb, the dive was not CFIT, but rather a loss of control due to disorientation, from continuing VFR into IMC. He told ATC he was climbing to get out of the cloud layer and was never heard from again.

If the rotor RPM is already low or decaying, it’s certainly possible. My own guess as to what happened is that the pilot got disoriented, and helicopters have a way of getting in to unrecoverable attitudes pretty quickly when the pilot is disoriented. It’s possible during that disorientation that the pilot allowed the helicopter to get in to a low rotor RPM situation, though without firsthand knowledge of an S-76, I can’t say for sure if that’s what caused the descent or if it was simply a matter of not knowing which way was up.

If this can happen with a high-time skilled pilot in command of a very expensive, sophisticated aircraft think of what it will be like with hundreds of cheap autonomous air taxis flying around.

Ҥ135.207 VFR: Helicopter surface reference requirements.
No person may operate a helicopter under VFR unless that person has visual surface reference”

Eye witnesses, looking up, did not see the helicopter because of the fog.
If the surface an not see the helicopter, the helicopter does not have a visual reference to the surface. They cheated and they died. Don’t do what they did.

Me too! If he could not see anything but cloud (fog) then why such a high descent rate and forward speed? That sounds like super special VFR.

She is not an expert. Bill English, the investigator in charge is. Bill is a very tactful guy. He did rebut assertion in a very nice way.

She’s the Board member. One of the five always go with a go team. She is not a pilot. The Board member is politically in charge of the go team. Bill English is really in charge.

1/2 mile during the day for helicopters. And, once he cleared the Van Nuys Class D ATC couldn’t grant him a SVFR clearance even had he requested one.

SVFR is only in surface areas.

Those will be flying pigs.

That has no bearing on anything and is uncalled for

Agree

$$$$ More stringent pilot training, more stringent MEL, and more Avionics maintenance.

Though the aircraft was IFR equipped, and the pilot was IFR certified, I wonder if the pilot was IFR current in that helicopter since the company operated as VFR only. As a VFR only company, they may not have given the pilot the opportunity to maintain his IFR currency or even his annual IPC. Inadvertent IMC is evaluated each year on the Flight Review. I can foresee Garmin noticing this and developing (if not already) a helicopter specific ‘Inadvertent IMC’ button just for these instances. Similar to their recent ‘Auto Land’ products.

In violation of 135.207 …

Got that right!

Its time the FAA rethinks helicopter minimums. They should be no less than those required for fixed wing aircraft. In my 24,000 hours of flying the only hazardous situations I have encountered are having to do with helicopters nearly colliding with me when operating in low visibility near an airport. Helicopters operating in low visibility are a danger to IFR aircraft and people on the ground.

Agree.

They Saud that particular hill would have been cleared 20 to 30ft but other hills surrounding were higher.

In fairness, in order to be autonomous it would have to have Terrain detection avoidance. You could just as easily argue it would be safer.

You do know that this is 2020 right? Oh sorry, was that too politically correct for you?