It's all over the internet and every channel...
This is really sad.
This is really sad.
From what I understand it was him, his daughter, his daughter's friend and that girl's father. Sounds like the bird went inadvertent IMC. That is bad news. Very sad news all around.
They are saying now that there were 9 on board including the pilot. Just terrible news. Prayers out to all those involved.
This is bad. So sad for the families, I cannot imagine what they re dealing with right now.
Reading what the weather was like, clouds and fog, I would bet my left nut the bird went inadvertent IMC. Happens a lot. Sometimes you make it out, sometimes, sadly, it ends like this.
Ask any helicopter pilot about it, and if they are honest, aside from crashing there isn't anything worse that could happen.
For those that don't know, IMC (instrument meteorological conditions) is a condition where pilots are required to fly primarily by reference to instruments under instrument flight rules (IFR) rather than visual flight rules (VFR). Inadvertent means is wasn't part of the flight plan, so you just have to react when it happens. From what I have read, when they turned out toward Calabasas, there were hills and mountains, and they ran into clouds and fog. When you get into clouds and fog, you have no reference to the ground or horizon, and it doesn't take much to develop spacial disorientation and end up in a world of ****. Often times, pilots will identify what is known as a "sucker hole" which is a hole in the clouds where you can see the ground for a few seconds, and they go for it. Sometimes, it closes and and then you are ******. I think some form of that probably happened here based on the weather reports when the bird went down.