Son-in-law of the pilot. I do not have any experience flying, but they were able to recover the flight recorder w/ all the data. Would anyone care to give their opinion on what could have happened based on the data recovered? NTSB said they should have probable cause this summer, but the family of course wants to know what happened.

He was flying at night and apparently light snow was falling, so first guess by everyone was there could have been icing involved. He picked up an injured snow machiner, about 5 minutes into the flight, while crossing over a small lake, he turned around to what appears to return to the pickup site of the snow machiner. Then shortly after, he stared to loose control.

The first link is the flight recorder data that was recovered. The 2nd link, on page 7 shows the GPS 3D readout of the helicopter in the last few minutes. The 3rd link is the entire release of the records, and the 3rd link is an updated article of the incident.

http://dms.ntsb.gov/public%2F55000-55499%2F55245%2F549781.pdf

http://dms.ntsb.gov/public%2F55000-55499%2F55245%2F542777.pdf

http://dms.ntsb.gov/pubdms/search/hitlist.cfm?docketID=55245&CFID=192849&CFTOKEN=64583417


http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20140203/report-fatal-chopper-crash-paints-troubling-picture-alaska-state-troopers-pilot

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Very sorry to hear that. There are at least a couple of helicopter pilots on here, but it may take a few days before they check the forum and respond.

*below is my strictly speculative opinion, and should not be taken as anything else*

Based on the news story and the NTSB reports I looked though, my guess is that he was over stressed with political/monetary issues within the trooper system, which led to a small lapse in judgement on an otherwise uneventful flight. The leadership structure in the organization looks like it left very little decision making to the pilot actually carrying out the mission. This, combined with the fact that the pilot made a good part of his salary from "overtime" pay and didn't want a relief pilot hired, led to some pretty stressful work conditions. On top of stress from workplace issues, you put a pilot in a situation with bad weather, at night wearing nvg's, and the exhaustion caught up with him for just a moment. That's all it takes in flying to have an accident.

The pickup was complete and they were heading back, he probably relaxed a little knowing the hard part was over with. The NTSB report reads like he was following an instrument guided flight path he was familiar with, then hit some reduced visibility conditions, didn't like what he was seeing on his nav equipment, and elected to fly by his gut instinct. The report said pilots usually pulled the breaker for the turn & bank indicator because of noise interference issues in the helicopter he was flying, which would have been a critical instrument for the type of flying he was doing. My guess is he became disoriented & frustrated, distrusted his instruments because they weren't indicating what his gut was telling him, and he ultimately lost control.

I'm a fixed wing pilot(civilian), but I have a few hours flying an R-44, and the margin of error in a helicopter is much smaller than that of an airplane. Especially when you consider the atmosphere of a high stress job, a long day where he broke his routine in the evening with the late call, and tough flying conditions. Alaska is a whole different animal when it comes to flying, the conditions those pilots fly in every day is much worse than what a flatlander pilot in Texas would encounter. I'm exhausted after flying in instrument conditions for just a couple hours, I can't imagine what the workload would be for a pilot of your FIL's caliber. Hopefully the troopers organization will correct the issues they have and create a better working condition for pilots. It sounds like a salary restructuring and a system for relieving pilots after long periods on call could be in line. The airlines have a system where a pilot can request time off if they feel exhausted, and then the Chief Pilot will review the schedule that has been flown. Based upon the review, the pilot can be approved for a day or two off to recover if the Chief Pilot agrees it was an exhausting schedule. My Dad has done this several times recently with the logistic issues of an airline merger, and has had an approved case every time.

He sounds like he was a damn good, well respected pilot, and should be remembered as such. I hope you and your's will. I lost an Aunt and Uncle in a plane crash ten years ago, NTSB didn't give us much, but honest speculation among us pilots in the family helped us all come to terms with the loss. Hopefully y'all can do the same.

Thanks for the reply Centerhill. I know the Department up there already has 3 stan-by pilots now and have eliminated NVG flying and pretty much all night time rescues on top of that. I guess after the crash of the states helicopter in New Mexico in 2009 that is very similar to this crash with my FIL, the NTSB came down pretty hard on the state for a lot of what is being discovered. The NTSB made several "recomendations", but unfortunately the state of Alaska all said in the NTSB interviews they never heard about the NM crash until after my FIL crash.