Originally Posted by
Kulwin Park
My question to the others: If it was a CFIT and if they were genuinely lost in IMC conditions, why in a helicopter would you slow down to a 'Hover' or 20-40 kts on the nose, establish where you are, what helipad or oval is nearby to land, and then assess a better track to the basketball stadium whilst racking VMC. The helicopter has a luxury of flying slow, not decreasing height, increasing speed as the graphs show. Is this the view of heli pilots - or does commercial pressure make you fly the client faster to the destination whilst on a thrill ride?
Options are only useful if you choose to use them.
If I had to speculate, I doubt this would have been the first time the pilot had done this, so you end up with a belief that you got away with it before, therefore you will again.
If you put it down to live to see another day, chances are that people with clipboards will come and ask awkward questions about why a VFR pilot is flying around in the soup.
When left with no other options, then keeping the ground in sight and remaining slow enough to avoid obstacles would increase your odds somewhat but will attract the attention of the authorities.