{"id":89610,"date":"2025-08-13T11:46:52","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T11:46:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=89610"},"modified":"2025-08-13T11:46:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T11:46:52","slug":"retired-air-force-officer-downplays-severe-weather-as-possible-cause-of-helicopter-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=89610","title":{"rendered":"Retired Air Force officer downplays severe weather as possible cause of helicopter crash"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>1 Minute, 24 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Former Air Force officer Wing Commander Nelson Patrick Sorgbordzor has downplayed suggestions that adverse weather played a decisive role in a recent military helicopter crash that claimed the lives of eight distinguished individuals.<\/p>\n

Speaking on\u00a0JoyNews\u2019\u00a0AM Show<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0on Wednesday, August 13, Wing Commander Sorgbordzor offered a firm defence of both pilot competency and operational protocol when it comes to flying in difficult weather conditions.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn the Air Force, or everywhere, we have grades of pilots,\u201d he explained. \u201cIf he were not qualified to fly in bad weather, he wouldn\u2019t fly.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He went on to describe the structured licensing system that governs a pilot\u2019s ability to operate in different meteorological conditions.<\/p>\n

\"Retired<\/figure>\n
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\u201cWe have licences, maybe A, B, C, D, and it\u2019s all green that makes them fly in all weather,\u201d he said, referring to the progressive nature of pilot certifications. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t think the bad weather was so bad.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

His remarks directly challenge the assumption that weather could be a central factor in the crash, suggesting instead that the pilot would have been properly cleared and capable of handling the flight under such conditions.<\/p>\n

Sorgbordzor also spoke to the limitations of emergency landings when flying over forested terrain, noting that, unlike populated areas, there are few, if any, viable landing options.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTalking about an aircraft landing in a school, there was a space for it to go and land,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut you fly over a forest area, where are you going to land? If the village had a park and they attempted to land there, that is what we call a forced landing. But over the forest, there is nowhere to land except on trees.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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\"RetiredFormer Air Force officer Wing Commander Nelson Patrick Sorgbordzor has downplayed suggestions that adverse weather played a decisive role in a recent military helicopter crash that claimed the lives of eight distinguished individuals.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5956,1883,10,9,1887,6478,6479],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-military-helicopter-crash","category-national","category-politics","category-popular","category-top-story","category-weather","category-wing-commander-nelson-patrick-sorgbordzor"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=89610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89610\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}