Originally Posted by
Twist & Shout
Was the aircraft certified IFR, or NVFR?
Was the Pilot qualified and current on IF or NVFR?
The answers have to be yes to both, NVFR at a minimum to be legal, surely. IFR to be sensible/safe, in my opinion.
Did the forecast indicate VMC?
It’s a terrible result.
https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp....85acafa9b2b748
Firstly condolences to the families.
My observations of the TAF at YWLM after a colleague told me about the accident was that it was blowing dust with a front moving through and gusting 48kts (due to high winds state wide it was carrying dust from the western regions of NSW farmlands to the coast ).
The information I have was that the pilot was not IFR and I’m not certain if he had NVFR or not ? it was a UH-1H VH- UVC and I’m not aware of what instrumentation was fitted but I believe it hadn’t flown much since a rebuild.
The route he was flying takes him into the Williamtown military zone and requires clearance. At night it’s awfully dark up that way on the coast with some small coastal town lighting until you reach Newcastle city which was about 15nm from where the accident happened. If you were planning to fly into NVFR conditions normally you would be at 4500’ heading south given LSALT considerations. The accident took place about 10-15 mins after last light.
RIP