Jeff,
I would not fully agree with that statement.....as in a helicopter....there would not have been the roll off resulting in a loss of control. In the helicopter at 285-300 feet....there is still time and height to do something....as simple as a slight turn, lowering the nose a bit, easing the collective down....any number of things.
If my memory serves me right....Nick Lappos...once posted a very good discussion on VRS and the 22....and as I recall suggested it would take a much higher ROD than 2500 fpm to cause a problem.
My main issue is the two Pilots are being left to carry the Can as a result of a
PR Statement that ignores the Accident Investigators statements about the cause of the crash.
I accept the Pilot's were steep, hot, and downwind. I will even accept there existed an 800/40 caution in their NATOPs data.
I also note they were not the flight lead....Lead put them into the situation they were in. The full dangers of A-VRS were not known at the time. It was a new aircraft to them and they were working to prove the aircraft. When you stack up all the chain in this tragedy.....picking just one link and then forever and again calling it a "Pilot Error" caused crash is just being unfair to two Dead Men who cannot stand and defend themselves.
When we add all the politics and the reasons why the Marines, Bell-Boeing, and way too many Congressmen were loathe to consider the crash to be anything but "Pilot Errror"....it easy to see why all and sundry grabbed onto the idea of blaming the Pilots.
If the proximate cause of the accident was Pilot Error....the Accident Investigators would have said so....yet three have made written statements they did not consider Pilot Error to be the proximate cause of the accident. The Pilots contributed to the accident by not doing an early Go Around.....but that does not mean they were the proximate cause of the crash.
Since when does a Press Release take precedence over investigations for matter of fact.