Although this accident occurred several years ago, I was not aware of it until this evening. Aside from the five news helicopters there was a police helicopter covering the chase of a suspect trying to avoid capture while driving dangerously in stolen vehicles. 

Compounding the confusion, the pilots of the news helicopters were required to multi-task to a ridiculous degree, even down to providing the live commentary! The latter meant that the pilots had to keep their eyes on a monitor installed on the left side of the instrument panel, instead of his primary responsibility to keep situational awareness of the other helicopters!!! 😱

 

Sad.  The pilot lost situational awareness.

Now add a couple of drones to the mix...

It's definitely a chore to work through SA and invoke self discipline to keep it. I still remember how much of a chore it was flying the ol mighty C-141B Star Lizard during low levels. You are doing clock, to map, to ground at 200 feet AGL at 230KTS. You are scanning for traffic and hand flying. This is where it's essential to divide tasks among other crew members. The issue starts when you have a limited number of crew members. It reminds me of the C-17 that replaced us as I jumped to the might KC-10. Those guys/gals struggled a bit with just two up front during low levels and airdrop. They were trying to do everything, such as hand fly, run checklists, clock, to map, to ground, maintain position and get the drop off. There were situations where they would get out of position, off DZ, etc. They had to start adding extra crew members to these type of flights. Two peeps work great going from point A to B. You can get away with one person doing that. But, when you complicate things, get low to the ground and hand fly, it's a work out.

On 9/18/2023 at 5:00 AM, stans said:

Sad.  The pilot lost situational awareness.

Both pilots lost situational awareness having to monitor/use seven com channels, watch the live video screen, and give a play-by-play commentary, it's no wonder they failed to "aviate..."

The first rule in aviation...FLY THE AIRPLANE!  As a pilot sitting in the left seat that's what you're there for.

When I was still flying here in Roswell there was a tragic accident involving a student pilot who had recently soloed.

She was on her second or third solo flight when she took a camera with her to photograph her house from the air.  She spun in into an empty lot just behind her house.  She left a husband and young son.

Noel

Edited September 18, 20232 yr by birdguy

I was no aware of this accident either. I felt sick looking at the video. The pilot's job should never have been to be a news reporter too. It was pure economics that caused this tragedy. My sister works as a flight nurse on a chopper and I would hate to this could happen so easily. 

Sad but absolutely inexcusable,