Posted on 01/30/2020 7:15:21 AM PST by Moonman62
The helicopter that crashed Sunday killing basketball star Kobe Bryant and eight others was owned by a charter company that only operated under visual flight rules, and its pilots were not permitted to fly solely based on their cockpit gauges if they encountered weather that limited visibility, a former pilot for the company told Forbes.
The pilot of the doomed flight, Ara Zobayan, was licensed to fly by cockpit instruments, but he likely had little real-world experience in doing so given the operating limitations of Island Express Helicopters, says Kurt Deetz, a former pilot for the company who flew Bryant for two years.
On a morning when heavy fog and low clouds were reported in parts of the Los Angeles area, and law enforcement agencies and helicopter tour companies weren’t flying their choppers, the last radio communication from Zobayan to air traffic controllers was that he was climbing to try to get above a layer of clouds.
“I don’t think he had any actual [experience] inside the clouds,” says Deetz, who notes that it can be unnerving for pilots limited to operating under visual flight rules, or VFR. “You spend your whole career thinking, ‘I shouldn’t do this.’ ”
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Island Express Helicopters, a Long Beach-based company that has seven helicopters registered to it and a related holding corporation, is certified under Part 135 of FAA regulations to provide on-demand charter services under VFR conditions only, according to FAA records.
OK, I’m not familiar with flying helicopters etc but if they saw the fog getting worse and worse, why not just set it down somewhere and call an Uber? Might have been embarrassing and a little pricey for them but a lot safer. Or is that over-simplifying things?
That is not what this means. The pilot was not qualified to fly with instruments. It doesn’t mean that the ground crew removed them from the helicopter or that the pilot didn’t attempt to use them.
They had to have some type of liability insurance. Maybe someone here has more knowledge of the type of coverages are required. I curious as to what their “per occurrence” payouts are as flight operations are generally touted to be safer for passengers than automobile accidents on a per trip/mile basis.
Yes, it does. The pilot had an instrument rating. The company he flew for had a VFR only policy. Pretty simple. Despite that policy, the company probably requires all of its pilots to have the instrument rating for insurance purposes.
Pilot disorientation would explain it. Yet are you really depending on your instruments to use your altimeter to go straight up? Imagine he was climbing on an angle, toward his destination and struck the mountain. Sad. Hopefully pilot trainees and other pilots will learn from this tragedy.
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Dumb question not knowing anything about flying helicopters. Why couldn’t he just stop and hover?
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That’s an excellent question, and I think he should have done that under the circumstances and with hindsight.
I don’t have an answer. My guess is he was under time pressure.
I live in an area where people will put your life in danger to save two seconds off their commute.
The company rules did not allow IFR..............
Pilot error. Get-there-itis. It happens, and unfortunately, its the cause of many similar aircraft accidents.
This clearly explains what happened. The pilot was disoriented, and had no idea if he was going up or down...obviously he was diving, thinking maybe that he was rising.
I think stopping forward speed and clearing his head would have been beneficial.
All those safety rules are written in blood.
IFR needs a ton of practice. I remember working on getting my pilot's license and i was cocky. My instructor had me put the hood on, close my eyes and he asked me to tell him when I thought we were flying level. I did and took the hood off. 30 degree left bank and a slight incline. I got it really quickly.
Common sense is not necessarily a requirement for the rich and famous.
Haha. Friend, you're a pilot who has worked in the industry for decades. Of course it's simple for you. But to the uninitiated, we see a headline saying he was not "allowed" and then we read that he was, in fact, "certified" to fly by instruments. It's confusing at best, and inflammatory at worst. Regular people don't know the difference. It's not a big deal, but when a writer confuses the layman instead of explaining something to them, it's a bad look.
I understand, but liability coverage is not going to cover the wrongful death of 9 people. The insurance company will cover some up to the maximum of their policy. The helicopter company will be responsible for the rest.
They will probably sue for 20+ million altogether.
This is on top of any issues about visibility and spatial disorientation.
Yes, and I wasnt admonishing you, just explaining it as you are correct that to someone who is not an airman, the article might confuse.
Why would anyone trust their lives to flying a chopper in Southern Cal that can only operate in VFR?
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It’s not a problem if the chopper actually stays in VFR conditions.
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IFR needs a ton of practice. I remember working on getting my pilot’s license and i was cocky. My instructor had me put the hood on, close my eyes and he asked me to tell him when I thought we were flying level. I did and took the hood off. 30 degree left bank and a slight incline. I got it really quickly.
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I think every student pilot goes through that. It happened to me, too.
That’s also why the graveyard spiral is so dangerous. It feels like straight and level flight.
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