Peter wrote:
What you can’t do, I am told, is fly slowly or hover in IMC, in most of them
What basis for that: traffic separation/collision? or need for visual references when flying slow/hovering?
Or both (you can’t do aeros in IMC on fixed wings 
)
With OVC011, low clouds, poor visibility and haze, it’s not easy to imagine being VFR at 1400 feet. I don’t know the terrain close to actual flight path but I know there are hills in surrounding area, definitely challenging flight in such conditions. Tragic loss…
Jujupilote wrote:
The pilot was CPL so necessarily instrument rated.
You can very well have a CPL without IR. In helicopters you can even have an ATPL without being instrument rated.
From what I’d heard he was CFII, had instructor and instrument.
I also heard that the autopilot on these things only works with moderate forwards speed.
Check out this guy. Incredible eyewitness account in comparison with the usual ones:
You can’t have an FAA commercial certificate without the IR.
He was a CFII ? Wow, he knew first hand what he was doing and how to stay safe.
My dad is a heli CPL/FI (no IR) and he several times had to land in a field and sometimes spend an unexpected night somewhere when scud running (with a piston heli). It’s a dangerous business, but at least you have a way out.
I got my information from this chap, he states a name and his qualifications.
From what I’ve read, to fly IFR in the type of helicopter used, two pilots would be required.
I don’t know the weather conditions at Camarillo that day, other than generally poor, but in trying to imagine the best way to approach the VIP transport problem it seems that IFR from Orange County to Camarillo airport, fixed wing if necessary, followed by a 20 minute drive on the 101 in Sunday morning traffic would have had a better outcome. Apparently the destination was a schoolyard in Thousand Oaks (?}
