Panama presidential candidate was among six people on board the aircraft when it crashed. Video / davidswelt
Dramatic video has emerged of the moment a helicopter carrying a Panamanian presidential candidate crashed into dense jungle after cresting a ridge to be met with a wall of low cloud.
The crash occurred in the Panamanian jungle last week and resulted in politician Dimitri Flores having to post to social media to seek help after he and five others found themselves injured and stranded.
Video shows the helicopter flying towards a ridge line in low cloud before it reaches the top and finds only cloud ahead.
The craft then appears to turn sharply towards the hill before an alarm sounds and the plane crashes to the ground.
The video was shared widely online, including in aviation communities where pilots identified the inherent danger of flying using visual flight rules (VFR) into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), in which pilots would be expected to fly using instrument flight rules (IFR).
Panama presidential candidate Dimitri Flores in front of the wreckage. Picture/ Dimitri Flores/Twitter
Plane and Pilot Magazine said it was "hard not to draw parallels" between this crash and the 2020 Kobe Bryant tragedy.
"As most helicopter pilots will tell you, in an almost bragging fashion, helicopters are inherently unstable," the magazine stated.
"That's what makes them so maneuverable. It's also why most helicopter pilots will do anything they can to avoid VFR-into-IFR conditions."
After the crash, Dimitri Flores posted a video of the crash site and issued an SOS.
"We had an accident here, brother, here at 4500ft [1400m] in the mountains," Flores said in the video, but doesn't indicate the exact location of the crash.
"We have some broken legs and arms between us. There's six of us. But we have to thank God for being alive."
Cae un helicóptero donde viajaba el precandidato presidencial Dimitri Flores y otros acompañantes, en área boscosa entre Bocas del Toro y Chiriquí. Viajaban en la ruta Changuinola-David. Reporte de Pedro Rodríguez. #RadioPanamapic.twitter.com/t1pweTTzAQ
While all passengers were eventually rescued safely by Panama emergency services, Flores went on later to criticise the four hours and 20 minute wait he and the other passengers endured.
"I'm very disappointed with the authorities. They flew over here with helicopters several times, helicopters which cost us millions, but which they couldn't land here," he said in a separate video.
Instead, Flores was greeted by two locals who managed to find the helicopter quicker than emergency services could.
"I'm very disappointed … there's much work to be done for our country," Flores said.
