NAROBS,
Would making use of this type of facility compulsory in the Flight Planning process have avoided yesterday's tragedy:-
JeppView Electronic Charting - Jeppesen Aviation Supplies
(a) No doubt a commercial operation such as the one operating the heli yesterday already uses some form of planning software. Its unlikely the commander writes up PLOGS by hand using a whizzwheel.
(b) The more gadgets, the more scope for bugs, software crashes and GIGO (Garbage In .... Garbage Out).
(c) The decision of the PIC on a flight is final and can overrule whatever the electronics are telling him/her if he/she feels something is up. Has always been, and will always be.
(d) Look up a video on ewe-toob called "Children of the magenta line"
Also, is TCAS available to helicopters ? And, if so, why isn't it made a compulsory fitting, especially on carriers operating over centres of population.
TCAS.....
Traffic Collison Avoidance System ..... hmmm... let me see.... that would have avoided yesterday's incident how exactly ?
The point about yesterday's incident is you're supposed to be visual over London in the heliroutes for good reason .... speculation suggests that the weather closed in around this poor chap and he struggled and subsequently failed to extricate himself safely. However I think its best we wait for the results of the investigation before jumping to conclusions as to whether or not he should have made the decision to depart in the first place..... there may well have been other contributing factors we don't yet know about.