Extreme example of get-there-itis: A R44 on its way to a wedding with the bride, her brother and a photographer on board. 300 guests are waiting for them to arrive.
They depart in fair weather but conditions deteroriate while the pilot continues the flight. When flying in IMC he struggles to maintain control of the helicopter.
Moments later you hear the stall warning beeping. All occupants died in the subsequent crash.
It is difficult to know what to say. Fixed wing into IMC (without instrument skills) is just about understandable but as this proves in most rotary this is never an option. Your heart goes out to all involved.
We discussed in another thread passengers understanding the risk of flying in “light aircraft”. I doubt they ever understood the risk.
I always thought the one advantage a helicopter had was that you could just land if things got to bad. So sad.
Not if you are going to a wedding…
Horrible.
However, one very experienced heli pilot told me you can hand fly in IMC. What you absolutely cannot do, by hand, is hover (i.e. land) in IMC.
Horrible and very sad.
Peter_Mundy wrote:
I always thought the one advantage a helicopter had was that you could just land if things got to bad. So sad.
It looks like they’re overflying a canopy of trees. A helo doesn’t help you much in this case.
172driver wrote:
It looks like they’re overflying a canopy of trees. A helo doesn’t help you much in this case.
According to information from a two-page long thread running on PPRuNe they had overflown their destination, a football stadium, twice before finally losing control and crashing. So I guess they were, at least for certain times, clear of the forest. Put as Peter already wrote, flying a helicopter in IMC and slowing down for a hover and landing must be two different things.
NB: Here is some factual information (it happened over six months ago!): https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=191861
I wonder how the video got out?
Maybe somebody found the camera after all this time. It has happened…
This must be the destination on this google maps chart (I hope the link works): Recanto Bejja Flor
Forest pretty much everywhere apart from the wedding resort.
A sad document of another pilot killing naive passengers. R44 in IMC … a really stupid idea. R.I.P. …
From ASN:
Rosemere, who was a nursing assistant, was to marry Udirley Marques Damasceno, 34. She intended to surprise him and his family, arriving by helicopter at the ceremony.
This is really tragic. But I can also imagine the pressure the pilot was under…..
