Kobe Bryant dead in chopper crash

One of the first things the instructor has you do when you're getting your instrument rating is a trust building exercise.
He puts the hood on you but has you look down instead of at the panel. He then tells you to fly straight and level just by the feel of the airplane and without looking at the instruments. The average student lasts about three minutes and either starts into a downward spiral or does a steep climbing turn and stalls. Either way, the lesson is the same...go to your instruments and trust your instruments.
One of the best things they teach on the instrument rating is recovery from unusual attitudes and how recognizing the entry into an unusual attitude is key.
The S76 that crashed was scud-running pure and simple. He was on a Special VFR clearance into an area with steep terrain and unknown ceilings and visibility. That is almost always a recipe for disaster.

 

It doesn't happen as much as it used to and that's a good thing. It used to be real common.
I can remember a lot of bad weather days when we'd finish our spraying or seeding and sneak home by following I-5 or 99. It was just expected of you. If you really got socked in you'd land on a county road or a field but it had to be really bad to do that. We were so dumb.
Those were the days before the big high radio towers, cell towers, and all the guy-lines that stretch out from them.
I wouldn't try it today.

 

I remember doing that a couple of times. Most of the water towers I see now don't have the town name painted on them. That's too bad.
In '72 my brother and I picked up two brand new Ag-Cats in New York and ferried them to California. If I remember right all the little towns in the midwest had names on water towers. We didn't have radios or any kind of nav capability except some out of date sectional charts and a couple of Texaco roadmaps. Those water towers sure helped.