Because visual flight rules prohibit a pilot from flying into or near clouds, the helicopter ascended to an altitude of above mean sea level (amsl) while flying northwest from SNA. On most of its previous flights to Camarillo, the helicopter had turned west at Downtown Los Angeles and flown over the Santa Monica Mountains until it picked up the Ventura Freeway (US 101). On January 26, that was not an option for VFR flights because of a deep marine layer which had pushed fog from the Pacific Ocean into the Santa Monica Mountains. Instead, the helicopter continued northwest, passed over Boyle Heights near Dodger Stadium and began following the route of the Golden State Freeway (I-5); as the flight approached Glendale, pilot Zobayan requested permission from the Burbank Airport air traffic controllers to transition to following the Ventura Freeway (US 101); Burbank controllers advised him that weather conditions around the airport dictated IFR and held the helicopter circling in a holding pattern for 11 minutes starting at 9:21 a.m. (17:21 UTC) before granting it permission at 9:32 a.m. (17:32 UTC) to proceed into the controlled airspace around Burbank Airport.