Sorry SAS, I think we are more on the same page than I thought.
SASLess
Starting again with you
I have a lot of multi engine piston time over many places but a lot in Northern, Southern Ireland and Scotland.
Some was IFR some was IFR OCAS, Some was into airports with approaches some not.
Now I fly totally jets IFR so a very regulated environment and I have to say the safest environment.
I have also flown some ferry work but never singles as I am not that brave
As to Helicopters sadly not and in this case not a situation a fixed wing pilot cannot contribute too.
But touch wood I am still here while several of my friends are not so I have a good guardian Angel or have done something right in the past or been plain lucky.
I discussed flying OCAS or even SVFR and what some pilots do to get the job done.
For that I am accused of being some sort of cowboy or minima buster by 757 driver and yourself.
Had PB flown to the SVFR limits and been visual at all times this accident would not have occurred.
Witnesses stated he popped out of the clouds and veered away from the building.
I acknowledge witnesses can get things wrong and popping out of the clouds could be something very different.
Putting that aside we do know the arm off the crane was hidden in cloud.
He did not see it and placed the Helicopter partially into that cloud enough to collide with the Crane Arm.
So for that fact alone he entered cloud on a SVFR clearance.
SVFR are limits that you can legally operate to in that airspace.
Sadly SVFR limits are defined weather is not so it is perfectly feasible to find yourself below those limits and to have to extricate yourself by either turning back! (which does not always work) Or to declare a problem, ask for a climb and as you put it an IFR clearance.
PB was a very respected experienced pilot!
The reason I talk about cloud punching etc is not to condone it but to realize that it does go on and probably did so in this case with tragic consequences.
It is all to easy to say you shouldnt do this or that or regulation xyz says bla bla bla the fact is that pilots do do this or that some intentionally some not and in this case with awful and sad consequences.
Pace
I've highlighted 3 sections above Pace.
1. But you continue to. This is not a high-level IFR environment and the assumptions you are making are flawed.
2. As I (and others) have stated before, one does not need to be blinded or in cloud to fail to see, or even to strike, man-made structures of this type.
3. Another assumption. Looking at the various pictures posted here, and reading the various 'eyewitness' accounts by ppruners, I fail to see proof of a defined ceiling below the height of the crane. This forum does not have the information to establish the in-flight visibility. Again, the AAIB should have the data to make a real decision about that.
4. That is the mother of all assumptions right there. I can't think of anyone I have ever flown with that would deliberately fly through a cloud at that level. Failed to see an obstruction, yes. In cloud, no.
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As for ATC giving him leeway (the other posts): on those occassions when I have been in the lone (or close to lone) a/c in the airspace due to an issue like weather or some other hazard, the controllers have always tried to let us do our work, then wait until it was finished to ask why we did it that way. Unless, of course, they saw a conflict.
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edited to add reply to Pace, who cannot post here:
From AAIB report:
Witness and CCTV evidence collected to date indicate
that the top of the crane and the top of the building to
which it was attached were obscured by cloud at the time
of impact
In my experience operating to rigs and elevated platforms/buildings, the fact that a structure is obscured from ground level isn't a guarantee that from a higher vantage, it is in a cloud. Mist and haze aren't as rigidly edged as that.
Because of this, I don't feel it is correct to make an absolute judgement so quickly.
We will have to disagree I think, but thanks for taking the effort to talk to me.
Take care and fly safe.