NTSB preliminary report --
They haven't found anything wrong with the engines or airframe.
They haven't found anything wrong with the engines or airframe.
RIP Mamba
- Thread starter Dominic
- Start date
There was no cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder in the helicopter, but the air traffic radios and radars keep records. After circling around the San Fernando Valley to avoid the controlled areas around airports, the flight was cleared for VFR following 101 to Camarillo, where presumably the local conditions allowed a VFR landing. The pilot requested Special VFR about the time he encountered the low clouds - that meant he was or would soon be entering conditions where he could no longer see where he was going, and eyewitnesses confirmed the helicopter was in the clouds. He also was cleared for his request to rise to 4000 feet barometric, which would have put him above all nearby terrain and the reported tops of the clouds. Instead, he began a sharp descending turn to the left. In spite of the fact that he was no longer capable of VFR flight, he only needed to watch his instruments to rise safely into the clear on course for Camarillo.
jpeter
PREMIER
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