Originally Posted by
JimEli
[...] the National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause of the N72EX accident as:
1. The pilot's decision to continue flight under visual flight rules into instrument meteorological conditions which resulted in the pilot's spatial disorientation and loss of control.
2. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's likely self-induced pressure and the pilot's plan continuation bias which adversely affected his decision-making
3. And, Island Express Helicopter Inc's. inadequate review and oversight of its safety management process.
The reference to N72EX is valid, as we might find that in this mishap all three NTSB findings will apply again:
- Inability or refusal of the PIC to transition to IMC
- client or self-induced pressure
- Lack of oversight from the operator
I agree that the recent memory from the N72EX crash should have made it easier for the pilots in this case to realise the risk and therefore to decline the flight.
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However, the potential icing risk aside (which in my case would have been the non-starter), do we at least agree that with proper equipment and proper skills this flight could safely have been conducted? We can't continue saying that the mission was impossible just because in the past other pilots
who managed to stack all odds against them, failed.
As I had posted before, I am even going further, saying that this crew - finding themselves in this completely unnecessary situation - simply having a synthetic vision app (like Horizon from Helios Avionics, Garmin Pilot of Forelight) constantly running on a *second* tablet, would have allowed them to fly out of this mess, without particular IFR skills or RAD ALT.
I know many here don't like this idea and refuse to contemplate it, as having synthetic vision (arguably) creates a false sense of security and could induce inexperienced pilots to go in deeper than they should. But as a thought experiment we may well be allowed to discuss it here.