NAME WITHHELD BY REQUEST
On Jan. 26, 2020, basketball legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter and several others were killed in an inadvertent instrument meteorological conditions (IIMC) helicopter crash in Southern California. That same day, an assault company came close to suffering the same fate.
It was a rare drill weekend where we had an opportunity to fly. Morale was high and everyone was eager to get home via a four-ship formation to close out the training. We were briefed the weather would be clearing when we entered the Los Angeles basin and we could proceed visual flight rules (VFR) back to Los Alamitos. The flight lead was a senior pilot in command (PC) who was paired with a pilot (PI) with just as much UH-60 Black Hawk time. The air mission commander (AMC) was in Chalk 2. He was our high-time pilot, with more than 2,000 hours. His PI was a lower-time lieutenant who arrived back from flight school two years prior. Chalk 3 had a PC with around 500 hours and a PI with 200 hours. My aircraft was Chalk 4. I had about 650 hours and was flying with the newest instructor pilot (IP) in the company, who had 250 hours. Our unit had not flown anything larger than a two-ship formation since the summer. In fact, most people had not even flown a two-ship since we were short on crew chiefs.
We were briefed to fly only if we had 3 statute miles visibility and 3,000-foot ceilings. The weather forecast for the Los Angeles basin predicted an early morning marine layer, which would burn off midmorning like it normally did that time of year. The briefer advised that we should not push to continue if the weather was bad, citing we had not practiced an in-flight IIMC breakup since the summer. Another factor we discussed was our recent acquisition of the M model Black Hawk, which we had only been flying for six months to a year at this point. The M model is a great tool in the clouds, but most crews were still getting used to the setup of the new cockpit.
We were able to take off on time and started the two-hour flight from Fresno to Los Alamitos. Our flight lead checked the weather as we approached the Los Angeles basin, as it looked like it was still instrument flight rules (IFR). The towers were still reporting IFR, but the AMC wanted to continue after looking at the freeway cameras in the Cajon Pass. Flight lead did not agree with the AMC’s thought process, and once Chalks 3 and 4 agreed, the formation landed at Victorville for gas.
While conducting our debrief about the decision we made, a news alert stating Kobe Bryant’s helicopter crashed due to bad weather came across the TV. We all departed IFR back to Los Alamitos and had to shoot approaches to get into the airfield. A four-ship formation IIMC breakup would not have been ideal, and I firmly believe it would have resulted in a mishap or, at least, a near miss. Below is the probable cause of Kobe Bryant’s crash from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report.
“The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the pilot’s decision to continue flight under visual flight rules into instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in the pilot’s spatial disorientation and loss of control. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s likely self-induced pressure and the pilot’s plan continuation bias, which adversely affected his decision-making, and Island Express Helicopters, Inc.’s inadequate review and oversight of its safety management processes.”
The NTSB report could have easily been a write-up of one of our Black Hawks crashing or, even worse, having a mid-air collision. We had a very experienced AMC who not only flew for the Army but also flew Black Hawks in his civilian career. He likely had plan continuation bias, which was due to flying in the same conditions multiple times at his civilian flying job. Our unit not flying formation, as well as not having practiced an in-flight IIMC breakup, for over six months would have likely led to a near miss or mid-air collision if we did go IIMC.
I think we all learned a lesson that day. Kobe’s pilot probably flew in the same conditions many times with no incident. That gave him the false sense of security that he could complete the flight, just like he had before. Our AMC thought the same thing, and we, too, could have been casualties of the weather that morning. Fortunately, the local National Guard lived to fly another day.