I’m on holiday now n Porto, not too far from the crash site, and when my wife translated the radio report at around 20h00 local, that a helicopter was missing, while we were driving home on the highway (100km/h zone) at 40kmh due to extreme rain and wind, I said “A helicopter? In this? Wow!”
I hear that that the crew had just dropped a patient, so this was. A return flight, as stated above. Such a shame. I’m not a pilot myself but an enthusiast. Am I right in saying that it’s 100% the pilots decision to fly? Also, without sounding like someone who is suggesting that they could have flown (as I’m fully aware of the weather at that time, as the roads were treacherous), do those helicopters have radar and all that? Or are they not suited for IFR conditions of that sort?
Strange about the news about radios failing. I hear they could only find the wreckage using cellphone triangulation. Or is that quite normal?