[Vhfcn-l] Helicopter crash on 26 Jan in California

[Arnold B Christensen]

Yeah that is the truth Don.  One time years ago 
before I retired at Ft Hood my next door neighbor 
came by my office and wanted to know if I wanted 
to get some Huey stick time.  I told him of my 
hate of Hueys the extremely few times I flew in 
one.  He laughed and told me not to worry as it 
would be in a simulator.  Oh that's different 
says I having never flown stick time in a simulator.

Now at that time I was the 6th Cav Brigade 
Aviation Safety NCO.  Charlie Gossett was a W3 I 
think I remember right and he was the Safety 
Officer for the 4/9th Cav of the 6th Cav.  He 
drives us to the Simulator building.  We strap in 
and he fires her up gets clearance to take off 
and is cleared for West Fort Hood...we called it 
back in those days.  I am very fascinated that 
the Instrument Panel is working and the feel of 
the simulator is very real. We headed out to 
Highway 190 and are headed west along it towards 
West Fort Hood Airfield.  He asks me to take the 
stick and I told him I had no stick time in a 
Huey. Hey, Chris, it's a Helicopter and you told 
me you had stick time in a H-13, some in a H-21 
and a little bit in a Hook in Nam.   All true, 
but a Huey? In 66 the closest I got to a Huey was 
the 23 of them we recovered and were hanging 
under the belly of my and Larry's Hook swaying in 
the breeze as we took them back to base camp in 
An Khe.   After awhile Charlie tells me that I am 
doing good. I think I replied "Hey Charlie it's a 
helicopter!"  Suddenly the screen is all white 
and I am feeling weird about that have been in 
flight around Staten Island, NY as a CE and 
somebody telling my pilots where they are and 
when to turn as we are in early morning fog out 
side of Idlewild as it was called then.  But our 
pilots were all IFR qualified!  No worry!  But I 
am not qualified and Charlie is telling me to 
follow the voice in the headsets and I am paying 
close attention to the instruments and the 
headset was telling me to make a left turn and we 
a cleared for a straight in to the center of the 
runway #?? then giving me the winds and all that 
good stuff and Charlie is telling him we are IFR 
and get a reply that we should be clear as we 
pass through 500'.  I am paying close attention 
and amHe doing good and I think about turning 
left just like Capt Lazono told me when leaning 
the h13 at night over NY bay.  In the beginning 
in those days long ago I had a habit of holding 
the grip with my whole hand in a death grip. 
Herky Jerky Chris he would say, think about 
turning and watch your Horizon as you turn.

But this is different and got all these voices in 
the headset and there is nothing to see and as I 
turn I know I have a death grip and suddenly the 
simulator is feeling different and the ball is 
way over and stuck on the side and the little 
thing in the middle is one wing totally low and 
Charlie is telling me to bring it back level and 
I cannot bring it back and my friend and neighbor 
is say shit shit we're about to crash.

The last sound I hear is impact and I have a 
death grip on the cyclic grip.   Charlie tells me 
we will be late for dinner tonight because you killed us Chris.

It was an eye opener as to how fast it can 
happen.   Been there done that.  Not prepared at 
all to fly into skud and execute a descending 
turn.   In me and Charlies case we were laughing 
about it as we walked out of the simulator and we were not late for supper.

Chris The Bigfoot.



At 06:11 AM 1/27/2020, Donald Jackson via Vhfcn-l wrote:
>I suspect that the pilot was scud running in an 
>attempt to get Mr. Bryant where he wanted to go 
>and when he wanted to be there.  Most 
>non-aviation types do not understand how 
>dangerous that is. -----Original Message----- 
>From: James Evans via Vhfcn-l 
><vhfcn-l at lists.vhfcn.org> To: Donald Jackson 
><Tiger129ts at aol.com> Sent: Mon, Jan 27, 2020 
>6:03 am Subject: [Vhfcn-l] Helicopter crash on 
>26 Jan in California You have all probably heard 
>about the helicopter crash in California on 26 
>Jan that killed Kobe Bryant.  Once I saw some 
>video from the news which showed the top of the 
>mountain covered with fog, I wonder whether the 
>pilot of the helicopter was IFR 
>qualified.  Over the past 60 years, I can 
>recall hearing about several aircraft crashes 
>that were due to the pilot flying into IFR 
>conditions but not having an IFR rating or in 
>the case of the airplane crash which killed 
>Audie Murphy the pilot apparently dialed in the 
>wrong radio frequency for the airfield he was 
>intending to go to.  A missed approach from the 
>wrong location put them into a mountain side. 
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