OK, so I am bored. Hit delete. The pilot of the helicopter is getting trashed because he asked for SVFR (special VFR) and got denied on a prior flight. He proceeded anyway. On the crash flight he asked for VFR flight following. They denied it due to his altitude. I have had that happen to me dozens of times. It does not indicate anything other than radar can only see so low.
91.155 A helicopter may be operated clear of clouds if operated at a speed that allows the pilot adequate opportunity to see any air traffic or obstruction in time to avoid a collision. 91.157 This part allows helicopters to fly SVFR even when flight visibility is below 1 statute mile when required for other aircraft. This part also allows helicopters to operate SVFR at night while other aircraft would have to be IFR certified with an instrument rated pilot. This part allows helicopters to take off or land a helicopter even when the ground visibility is below 1 statute mile. On the prior flight people are using to claim he was a bad pilot, he was proceeding low and slow as allowed but he was in a particular area of controlled airspace that required permission to do so. Not that it was reckless or dangerous. His only other option was trying to file what is called a “pop up” IFR flight plan. I have had to do that before when the weather changed. It is a pain, takes some radio time to do but it is a legal way forward. Or he could have found a place to land perhaps. He got busted doing what was probably the safest, but not legal, thing to do. I don’t think this calls his skills into question. The ship was flying but doing a rapid turning descent for some time before the crash. Either he got really bad vertigo or he was attempting to autorotate due to a mechanical failure. I don’t think he got vertigo. When you are in the clouds you use the autopilot if you have one. He had one. He was a high time IFR rated pilot. If you hit clouds you mind switches to using the instruments and getting yourself out of trouble or staying out of trouble. . This was a Sikorsky S-76B Very large helicopter. Has an auto pilot and almost certainly had an auto hover feature due to the fact that it was used for search and rescue in a prior life. You can simply stop them and hover if you find yourself uncertain of your position. Maybe he had a heart attack.
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