These guys are good. They log a lot of hours too. There's more drownings on these islands each Yr than there are death due to traffic accidents. A lot of narrow paths and straight vertical drops into the ocean; no way to climb onto the rocks. One recovery last week, drown trying to save her dog and a rescue of 2 persons 5km from here just a few hours ago.
As I recall, the majority of US army training fatalities are associated with night flying of helicopters using a single monocular IR viewer ; it is easy to get disoriented if the landscape is not flat . Ditto for flying into or thru clouds.
Latest news on the Kobe Bryant crash is that many more first responders are now thought to have filmed and shared the films of the bodies. Apparently there is a market for that on the dark web, and everyone can be assumed to have access to a smart phone and its video capability.
"...when logic, and proportion, have fallen, sloppy dead..." Grace Slick
The US Army has tried many times to get obstacle avoidance systems for their helos, but they invariably fall below the budget line; it's a 3D world, and looking at it with 2D sensors just doesn't hack it, for safety.
TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
Until recently most of the EMS helicopter flights in NZ have been VFR (including night). When they starting getting NVG capability (still VFR night) they started cancelling a lot more night flights as they could see just how bad it actually was. Its not uncommon for the EMS helicopters to land somewhere for a hour or 2 till the weather passes through.
I don't get why he didn't hover for a bit to find another way through the clouds, unless he greatly underestimated how thick the cloud was or it was developing & he didn't break though in the expected time. Its not really like fixed wing where you your best response to unexpected entry into clouds for the non IFR current is to let go of the controls (assuming you are all timed out).
