Very interesting. He was climbing to get over a cloud bank towards the end. Did he enter the cloud bank while climbing then once in the pea soup did not realize the chopper had veered South and down? I've ridden shotgun in many choppers, lots of these S-76ers, and you can easily see the altitude, orientation to the horizon (attitude indicator), and vertical speed i think. With all these instruments available with no visibility he - a pro - should not have descended into a mountain. It would seem, as a layman. (I always studied everything the pilot did just in case he had a stroke or heart attack. On most S-76 flights we had 2 pilots and i rode in the back). More likely, to me, some kind of mechanical failure. I was in a S-76 one time when one engine failed and the other red lined. The pilot got the chopper low as possible (potentially survivable if we suddenly drop) and we had to find a runway to land like a plane so we wouldn't stress the engine the way a normal chopper landing does.
It is reported that he was flying visual instead of instruments which makes no sense at all to me. Makes sense as to why he crashed beings he couldn't see
He was flying special visual but he still had his instruments in front of him to read. He had to see his altitude dropping rapidly. Speculation is that he was turning around when he crashed, maybe trying to duck back under the cloud deck to gain a visual. When starting to turn around he thought the dangerous terrain was ahead of him, and didnt realize there were already mountains to the sides as well.
Man I'm just spouting off stuff I heard on the radio. I know a lot of things but the only thing I know about flying is I'd crash if I ever tried to do it. That and I hate helicopters
Kirk Douglas died today at 103. https://people.com/movies/kirk-doug...JuIasdB4VHeAX-Zgqi4i1_tyVxxDfGv2kpldEPzN6P92E
