The NTSB clearly stated that the company was 135 VFR only for helicopters. No idea if they had airplanes on their ops specs or not. You'll have to wait to see if the pilot was legally current, which we all know is an absolute minimum for IFR flying. Breaking company rules in the effort to be safe shouldn't even be a thing to worry about. Company rules and the regs. require weather be good at departure. For VFR flight, what happens after departure is the pilots judgement. If you can't stay VFR you may use SVFR if they grant it. It's pretty rare to be unable to stay SVFR but you must report that if it happens. Once back in class G, if you can't stay clear of clouds it is time to land tout suit or declare an emergency after you have secured the flying part. What ever happened to aviate, navigate, communicate in that order. And another thing, if this pilot was a long time LA basin guy, wouldn't or shouldn't he have known where the deck for VFR flight following was on common routes?
Last edited by roscoe1; 30th Jan 2020 at 21:39.