NYC helicopter crash 10th June 2019
Man, this thread is hopeless...like a dog chasing its tail. Subject pilot was not a low-time helicopter pilot (2800+ hrs). He was a professional corporate pilot being paid to fly a sophisticated, twin-engine aircraft. He had operated out of 6N5 FOR YEARS, he was a NY resident, and practically speaking he was flying in his "back yard". The wx was 500 and 1 but a couple minutes after takeoff he doesn't know where he is.
I'm done here.
I'm done here.
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No, no one suggested he was lost, the pilot stated HIMSELF he was "lost" over 123.075 to the heliport Unicom.
Per the NTSB pre-lim the PILOT radioed that "he didn't know where he was."
He might have been a moderately experienced pilot, without an instrument rating attempting to operate in weather categorically classified as IFR (below MVFR). I don't believe anyone has ever suggested he was lost. However, several have thought he became spatially disoriented.
Seems many people are missing the BR (Mist) note when evaluating that the reported 500' overcast is "not that bad".
As I noted up-thread, I drove over the Verrazano Bridge both ways that day, and both ways I was driving in cloud, unable to easily read highway exit signs on the bridge. The peak of the bridge road deck is only 230' MSL. Sure, there's some local weather that happens in that part of the harbor but it's fair to say the weather was terrible.
As I noted up-thread, I drove over the Verrazano Bridge both ways that day, and both ways I was driving in cloud, unable to easily read highway exit signs on the bridge. The peak of the bridge road deck is only 230' MSL. Sure, there's some local weather that happens in that part of the harbor but it's fair to say the weather was terrible.
Mike gives us firsthand information re the weather.
If he said it was really bad.....it was really bad.
The video shows it to an uneven and varying kind of cloud, mist, and fog.
We have to remember it is what the pilot can see outside the windscreen of the helicopter....or side windows or chin bubbles....that matters.
I think we can all agree the Pilot found himself in weather that caused him to crash instead of being able to land safely somewhere either by making a visual approach and landing or an instrument approach and visual landing.
From his radio transmissions and the radar track....we also can assume he was "lost" in a place he knew well.
After that....we are all guessing at what transpired in the cockpit.
If he said it was really bad.....it was really bad.
The video shows it to an uneven and varying kind of cloud, mist, and fog.
We have to remember it is what the pilot can see outside the windscreen of the helicopter....or side windows or chin bubbles....that matters.
I think we can all agree the Pilot found himself in weather that caused him to crash instead of being able to land safely somewhere either by making a visual approach and landing or an instrument approach and visual landing.
From his radio transmissions and the radar track....we also can assume he was "lost" in a place he knew well.
After that....we are all guessing at what transpired in the cockpit.
Last edited by SASless; 8th Jul 2019 at 14:03.
Final Report...
Another fly or lose your job event...?
https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/a...port/99586/pdf
According to the pilot’s girlfriend, during the evening before and on the day of the accident, the pilot was concerned about the weather for the flight from Amenia to 6N5, and from 6N5 to LDJ. As the pilot was preparing the helicopter for the flight from Amenia, he informed his brother that he was nervous about the flight due to the poor weather conditions. His brother suggested that he not fly the trip, the pilot responded that “[the pilot-rated passenger] is making me fly.” About 1200, during a telephone conversation while at 6N5, the pilot told his girlfriend that he had a “window” to reposition the helicopter to LDJ, and also said that he “shouldn’t be flying, but had to…”
