Originally Posted by
FH1100 Pilot
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.
Now aside from the personal attack which borders upon slander which we know can be a mortal Sin hereabouts....there are some other aspects of you post that are factually wrong.
The Pilot involved was the Chief Pilot....a member of Management but only one link in that chain of command.
The Island Express SOP required the DO to be consulted during the Risk Analysis Protocol....but. he was not.
Insurance Providers can and often do write minimum standards into their policies and oft times cancel policies if those standards are not met.
The Third Party Training company does not monitor flight operations....but they do pass upon the fitness of the Trainee upon completion of their training of the Pilot to include Check Rides and the performance level of the Pilot.
By doing so they are "certifying" the Pilot has or has not met their Training Standards and Syllabus as documented in writing during the performance of that training.
The FAA uses FAA Inspectors to monitor the Operators compliance with the FAR's to include Part 61,91, and 135 as well as the 135 OpSpecs among other criterion.
I would suggest you stick to speaking for yourself and leave off trying to put words in my mouth....as you do a very poor job of both.
The Pilot-In-Command is the last link in a chain that is supposed to act to prevent such tragedies....and as we know....any chain is only as strong as the weakest link.
Which link do you wish to identify as the Link that had the most effect in failing to prevent this accident?
Was it the Pilot all by his lonesome or did some of that safety program, management enforcement of its written policies, the trainers who did not ferret out a weakness in the Pilot's use of the installed avionics and systems?
As the Pilot paid for his Sins we should be fair to him and question how it was he felt able to do what he did only to discover far too late that he was not adequately trained, experienced, or capable of coping with the situation he found himself in that day.