Crab I don’t think it is ever acceptable to hover in cloud but it might surprise you to know I have done it and for all the wrong reasons and motivations. You obviously can’t read because 3 times now I have said I don’t particularly criticise the crew. It’s stil really **** airmanship to continue up a hill into fog. However maybe this crew were noe experienced enough to learn that yet......or maybe they follow the Crab rules....ie none until there’s a smoking heap.
BTW if you suddenly find you cant turn around you have already gone too far. It happens and you learn from it. In this case they end terrorising road users in fog. I am sure they will face some Qs as to how exactly they ended up in that position. If not the Army has changed and not for the better.
How could I criticise ? I have done it myself. But unlike you I recognise and believe it to be a singularly stupid thing to do. And to be honest, SAR and HEMS are the same thing. Rapid deployment to persons in trouble. If you choose to hang it all out there to get the job done we are neither allowed or motivated to do that. I think in UK HEMS there has only been one loss and that was wires 1km from base. I could be wrong but I am getting older. How many SAR machines have been lost pushing the limits?
I say again, the lumpy bits don’t care if your HEMS, SAR, SF or joe public. The results are the same.