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I actually read the article and I'm a commercially-rated pilot with experience in similar terrain and airspace. First of all, most helicopters are not flown IF

I actually read the article and I'm a commercially-rated pilot with experience in similar terrain and airspace. First of all, most helicopters are not flown IFR. Following roads in bad weather is common. But ... flying under 500' is not safe these days because of wires, towers and heliostats. The journalist is likely speculating on what the flight path was and the weather conditions, but overall it feels pretty accurate. That's why you don't fly in helicopters, and in bad weather. You fly scheduled airlines, in good-enough weather. Not that I care, but Kobe should have had better personal security advice.

cjbprime 7y ago
> First of all, most helicopters are not flown IFR. I hadn't realized you can be a commercial helicopter pilot without an instrument rating. It's very different to fixed-wing. And most helicopters aren't even capable of IFR, as I understand it. LAPD's choppers were grounded, not because the pilots aren't IFR certified, but because the helicopters aren't. This helicopter was capable of IFR, but usually with two pilots, not one. The US is an outlier in allowing single-pilot IFR on these if they've had an avionics upgrade -- Canada wouldn't allow it. Along with the delays due to clearance and rerouting if they'd filed IFR, they would also have been frustrated by not being able to go where they wanted to go: there's no instrument approach to Kobe's Mamba Sports Academy, they'd have to divert to find an airport to land at.
himinlomax 7y ago
> That's why you don't fly in helicopters, and in bad weather. You fly scheduled airlines, in good-enough weather. From what I gathered, said bad weather was extremely localized. Someone who had just arrived at the location (by car) around the time of the accident noted that the sky was clear just a few miles away.
- cjbprime 7y ago
  That doesn't sound right -- I mean, it might be true that there was a clear spot nearby, but it's not a good summary of the weather that morning. It was a blanket coastal fog that grounded the LAPD choppers and canceled many flights. I live in San Diego, 120 miles away, and it was pure white fog outside my bedroom window when I woke up too. It was not in any sense a fair weather morning for flying.

cjbprime 7y ago

> First of all, most helicopters are not flown IFR. I hadn't realized you can be a commercial helicopter pilot without an instrument rating. It's very different to fixed-wing. And most helicopters aren't even capable of IFR, as I understand it. LAPD's choppers were grounded, not because the pilots aren't IFR certified, but because the helicopters aren't. This helicopter was capable of IFR, but usually with two pilots, not one. The US is an outlier in allowing single-pilot IFR on these if they've had an avionics upgrade -- Canada wouldn't allow it. Along with the delays due to clearance and rerouting if they'd filed IFR, they would also have been frustrated by not being able to go where they wanted to go: there's no instrument approach to Kobe's Mamba Sports Academy, they'd have to divert to find an airport to land at.

himinlomax 7y ago

> That's why you don't fly in helicopters, and in bad weather. You fly scheduled airlines, in good-enough weather. From what I gathered, said bad weather was extremely localized. Someone who had just arrived at the location (by car) around the time of the accident noted that the sky was clear just a few miles away.

cjbprime 7y ago
That doesn't sound right -- I mean, it might be true that there was a clear spot nearby, but it's not a good summary of the weather that morning. It was a blanket coastal fog that grounded the LAPD choppers and canceled many flights. I live in San Diego, 120 miles away, and it was pure white fog outside my bedroom window when I woke up too. It was not in any sense a fair weather morning for flying.