Yeah I'm sure that factored into it. The flight had been delayed for 15 minutes while they waited for other traffic and the pilot was trying to get the girls and the coaches to their game so I'm sure he was stepping on it. When I saw that they were flying at 185 mph in the fog at low altitude over a heavily populated area I was thinking that seemed a little fast. But it was a very sophisticated helicopter and the pilot was super qualified. Something went wrong.
More comments from the retired Army helo pilot on the other board:
"At one point ATC called him and asked something to the effect of'“Confirm you are VFR?' This is ATC calling BS that he was actually VFR in as professional a way as possible."
"I don’t think he got slow though. 168kts is REALLY fast for a helicopter. Typical cruise speed is 90-110kts. I think he got disoriented, nosed the aircraft down because that’s what his ears and body were telling him to do, and accelerated straight into the ground. Speculation though."
Also had this question posed to him, and this was his response:
Q: Would it be fair to say he was trying to save time? Quicker to fly VFR than to have to file and deal with that? Sounds like he was certified to fly instruments but not sure if it was on that type.
A: More like ‘save his job’. It is illegal to fly IMC on a VFR flight plan, and pilots get fired for putting passengers and aircraft at risk for flying in IMC when they took off VFR and was easily avoidable, because people die when they do.
