Here's today's NTSB briefing near the scene.
Board Member
Jennifer Homendy described the holding and special VFR clearances for the accident flight. She said that shortly before the crash the pilot said he was climbing to avoid a cloud layer. When ATC asked what the pilot planned to do there was no reply. The helicopter was observed climbing to 2300 feet MSL and then making a left descending turn to impact with terrain. The impact crater was at 1085 feet elevation. The debris field is 500-600 feet long on both sides of a hill.
There was no FDR or CVR and they were not required to be installed. An iPad with Foreflight was recovered and possibly more personal electronic devices will be available for analysis. The FBI is on scene strictly to assist in gathering perishable evidence, there is no criminal investigation.
Ms. Homendy clarified that when the controller said that the aircraft was too low for flight following it meant that they were too low for ATC to provide flight following assistance, not presumably too low for terrain avoidance.
She said that she's very confident that the NTSB will determine the cause of the accident.
Last edited by Airbubba; 28th Jan 2020 at 16:57.