I’m clearly not cut out for any of this.  I get vertigo just driving over an 
interstate overpass on a foggy day.

 

From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com> On Behalf Of Mark Radabaugh
Sent: Monday, February 24, 2020 2:44 PM
To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <af@af.afmug.com>
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT Kobe and helicopters

 

Tight circling while waiting for a clearance followed by a rapid acceleration 
and climb is a textbook recipe for vertigo and spatial disorientation.  I’m 
willing to bet the descent was opposite the direction he was initially 
circling.    Vertigo is nasty in IFR, especially when it’s been some time since 
it’s happened to you.

 

The media is always idiotic when it comes to flying - I don’t expect much from 
them.

 

Mark





On Feb 24, 2020, at 2:50 PM, ch...@wbmfg.com <mailto:ch...@wbmfg.com>  wrote:

 

This is what I fumble around in when I can’t see a thing outside:

<image[1].png>

 

From: Steven Kenney 

Sent: Monday, February 24, 2020 12:17 PM

To: af 

Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT Kobe and helicopters

 

You'd never catch me flying in a chopper IFR unelss I had some sort of terrain 
following radar or radar altimeter.  Too many wind towers,  powerlines,  and 
those pesky telecom towers .. 

 

I've flown with real chopper pilots and they always always are concerned with 
towers even though they need to stay above 500ft.  

 

Imagine fumbling around in this while you can't see a thing outside.  

 

  
<https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.jetphotos.com%2Ffull%2F2%2F50691_1164128496.jpg&f=1&nofb=1>
 

 

-- 
Steven Kenney
Network Operations Manager
WaveDirect Telecommunications
http://www.wavedirect.net
(519)737-WAVE (9283)

 


  _____  


From: "Bill Prince" <part15...@gmail.com <mailto:part15...@gmail.com> >
To: "af" <af@af.afmug.com <mailto:af@af.afmug.com> >
Sent: Monday, February 24, 2020 2:04:32 PM
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT Kobe and helicopters

 

The Sikorsky S-76B is a big bird. Not cheap. Maybe 10 to 13 million depending 
on condition.

I suspect this has some parallels to the thing with Bill Graham 20 years ago or 
something. I think Graham pressured the pilot to fly even though the conditions 
were not very good (awful at that time). They hit power lines in low 
visibility. 

Helicopter pilots can sometimes cut corners.

bp
<part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com>
 

On 2/24/2020 10:47 AM, Steven Kenney wrote:

Doubt it.  It was poor decision after poor decision.  Should never have flown.  
Mist rolling in from the hills could obscure things below 1 mile easily.  
Choppers and mountains don't mix with all the updrafts and unpredictable wind 
patterns.  ESPECIALLY downdrafts.  (I like to fly the Huey in DCS and its a 
pain to land with a slight downdraft) 

 

Most choppers don't have much to navigate IFR other than an NDB if they are 
lucky they have a VOR which would require IFR and some preplanning.  Especially 
in mountains.   I'd assume since he was rich as hell that they'd have a GPS 
capable nav air like a GNS 530 (pretty cheap) so it would have some nav aids 
but not necessarily terrain loaded.  

 

It was just dumb to press your luck in an aircraft not designed for IFR "on the 
fly" 

 

-- 
Steven Kenney
Network Operations Manager
WaveDirect Telecommunications
http://www.wavedirect.net <http://www.wavedirect.net/> 
(519)737-WAVE (9283)

 


  _____  


From: "chuck" mailto:ch...@wbmfg.com
To: "af" mailto:af@af.afmug.com
Sent: Monday, February 24, 2020 1:03:43 PM
Subject: [AFMUG] OT Kobe and helicopters

 

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.  

 


-- 
AF mailing list
AF@af.afmug.com <mailto:AF@af.afmug.com> 
http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com






-- 
AF mailing list
AF@af.afmug.com <mailto:AF@af.afmug.com> 
http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com

 


  _____  


-- 
AF mailing list
AF@af.afmug.com <mailto:AF@af.afmug.com> 
http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com

-- 
AF mailing list
AF@af.afmug.com <mailto:AF@af.afmug.com> 
http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com

 

-- 
AF mailing list
AF@af.afmug.com
http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com

Reply via email to