Nubian, if I drive my car into a bridge support that is just clear of the road (but was compliant with all the building regulations at the time it was built) is it the fault of the builder?
No, of course not, it is my fault because I misjudged the clearance (for whatever contributory reasons, rain, confusing road markings, not paying attention) - that is the root cause of the accident.
As with the helicopter, the second aircraft could have been parked there all day long without being the cause of an accident - the mishap only occurred with the introduction of the landing helicopter.
The primary and root cause was the pilot of the landing helicopter landing too close to the running one - she made a misjudgment, just as if she had taxied into the side of a hangar or a lighting stanchion.
No Crab. You're talking about the ''last hole in the swiss cheese'', the last factor that caused the accident, not the root cause.
Why do you think they redesigned the base after this accident? Surely if it was only the landing pilots fault, this would be unnecessary! Then you'd give the pilot some additional training, and all chances of this happening again would be gone!
I ask you: Would we have this thread if the base had looked like it does today?
There is a good reason that the NTSB have 4 recommendations, all related to the AC governing heliport design in this report.
I'm sure you have lots of SOP's and know them all by heart, but do you know WHY you have them?
You're right about ASSUME though... but that would not happen if the ramp looked like it does now, then there would not be a need of assuming anything.