Originally Posted by
gulliBell
In that case it's the most stupid design point of any helicopter I have ever seen in my 26 years of flying. I bet that one bottle had enough gas in it to partially inflate both sides sufficient for the helicopter to have floated upright after landing.
If the floats only inflated on one side of the helicopter in flight, I imagine the asymmetric drag wouldn't have been helpful for directional control.
From the videos of the helicopter landing, it it is clear that the floats on both sides were deployed. How well they were inflated is unclear.
Originally Posted by
gulliBell
What I'm finding difficult to comprehend is, the pilot must have known prior to 500' that the floats on one side of the aircraft had failed to inflate, so why continue to a water landing? Those passengers were all doomed from the moment the decision was made to continue with the water landing after the floats had failed to inflate properly.
Well, about that time he was managing an emergency autorotation, and at the same time, also processing a bunch or new and interesting information, like the fact that the passengers tether had been looped around the fuel shutoff, and that it was now in the off position, and pondering how that tidbit altered his current situation. But you're right, as he passed through 500 feet, he should have noticed that the right side floats were only partially inflated and climbed to a safe altitude and flown off to land elsewhere.