Originally Posted by
SASless
Proper Airmanship by the Pilot would have prevented what happened.....but proper oversight by company management, the company's insurance company, the third party training company, and the FAA also should have prevented the accident from happening.
Perhaps one of the dumbest things I've ever read on this forum. SASless obviously does not know how commercial Part 135 helicopter aviation works.
1) Ara was the Chief Pilot - he WAS "the management" of which you speak.
2) The company's insurance carrier does not provide "oversight" of flight operations.
3) The company's third-party training company does not provide "oversight" of flight operations
4) The FAA does not provide day-to-day "oversight" of flight operations. (No do we want them to.)
Even if the D.O. had questions about the flight, we can be sure that Ara would have given him some B.S. about how, "...The weather is generally good, and if it gets bad I'll just turn around and land at Van Nuys." At that, the D.O. would have said, "Okay Ara, it's your call. You're the Chief Pilot, I trust you." Aaaaand off we go.
Perhaps we might suggest that Island Express's insurance company require the company have IFR certification for all of their operations and pilots? That would be highly unusual. Wouldn't it be interesting if insurance companies required that of *every* Part 135 operator!
Maybe Island Express's third-party training company should have had more comprehensive training for inadvertent-IFR encounters? Who says they didn't? They probably trained Ara to the current industry standard. Such things were part of every Part-135 Recurrent checkride I've ever taken. Put the hood on, then put you head down and close your eyes. The IP will do some maneuvering and then put the ship into an unusual attitude. He'll then say, "Okay, open your eyes and recover." (Some were more, um, "enthusiastic" about this than others.) Fun times!
What SASless is suggesting is that our whole helicopter industry here in the U.S. is defective because we give so much responsibility and authority to just one guy...you know, the PILOT IN COMMAND? And when that Pilot In Command makes a dumb, fatal decision based on his stupidity, then it's not just *his* fault - oh no! It's his AND the entire industry's fault for existing as it does in the first place.
Uhhhh, uh-huh. If SAS wasn't as old as he is (and apparently pushing senility), I'd swear his post was written by some young, "not-my-fault!" millennial.