I am a professional helicopter pilot and instructor pilot at Ft. Rucker. Helicopters are actually very safe and do not crash as often as people think. Look into the number of fatal small airplane crashes vs helicopter crashes. Most accidents involve human error, it doesn’t matter how safe the aircraft if the pilot has a lapse in judgement or gets in over their head often they and other people pay the price.
It is absolutely sad that this has happened and I pray for his family especially if his daughter was onboard.
Don’t you think it’s odd that it’s an S-76? Those are reliable aircraft. If you would have told me a Robinson I wouldn’t be shocked but to hear it was an S-76 leads me to believe that something extraordinary happened
I hadn’t heard it was an S-76. Those are really good helicopters and most are instrumented for instrument flight. Someone mentioned earlier that it was possibly foggy, they could have gone IIMC and/ or gotten SD. That combination of inadvertent followed by spatial-d has killed a lot of people. It is pure speculation at this point on my part but I wouldn’t rule that out. I am guessing by your handle you know a thing or two about helicopters, so you know as much as I do that mechanical failure is very rare.
I have a son that is currently a Night Stalker and know what it means. Thank you for your service.
