Great post thank you. You touched on something at the end of your post about being able to land anywhere. That was my main question is WHY in the hell didn't the pilot just descend and land if he was lost, bewildered, couldn't see or whatever!? Even if landing was in the middle of a mountain field 50 miles from the intended destination?! At least they were safe on the ground.
To fly a helicopter into a f*ing mountain because you can't see or are lost is pretty f*ing stupid. If you can't see then just hover, descend & LAND the helicopter! Hello? Let the passengers (who would all still be very much ALIVE) get an uber or a taxi or even walk to their destination. That beats being dead.
The pilot sucked. plain and simple. asshole pilot. There's no excuse for flying into the side of a mountain in a helicopter ...that can land anywhere. Fog, clouds, can't see...? Nope not excuses. Land the f*ing helicopter if you can't see. Wait for the clouds to go away and then fly again. Even a couple hours late to a basketball game is better than being dead forever.
The news stories say the copter dropped like 2-3k feet in a matter of seconds and plowed into the mountain. Why would he go down (with rapid forward motion) not knowing the terrain? OP mentioned the pilot may have been disoriented not knowing which way was up or down... don't these things have altimeters or something to show the pilot his altitude??
