Bell 430 CFIT
 

Unfortunately last friday was a bad day for helicopter aviation here in Mexico, a Bell 430 who was attempting a VOR approach to MMJA (Jalapa Veracruz) crashed killing its two occupants, apparently the aircraft hit very fast since it was completely destroyed by the impact.

IFR helicopter flying over here is not very common since most airways going to and from important places have MOCA's that are at least 14,000 FT and above, this obviously means few pilots are current for IFR flight, but lately with new aircraft arriving with modern avionics such as moving maps, 4 axis autopilots, modern radars, etc. I see a lot of colleagues flying IFR without much experience or currency.

So if you are ever in the positon just be careful,

condolences
 

My sincere condolences to all affected by this accident!

Was this a private a/c or commercial operation?.... not that it really matters.... just interested in Mexican industry.

D.K

Donut King
 

This was a State Goverment (state of veracruz) owned helicopter, it was one of a fleet of 4 430's, and it had just been working up to last week taking water, food and medicines to victims of hurricane Isidore in Yucatan, (nearby CanCun), you can see a picture of one of the sister ships here:

http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/he...toAlbum15.html

although the one that crashed had high skid landing gear, it was not retractable.

With MOCA' s of 14,000.......you guys carrying supplemental Oxygen for IFR flights? Would imagine heavy smokers....or those prone to hypoxia might find that a wise precaution.