Gray - I am quite clear what happened to the crew in the video - for reasons I can't go into on this forum. You were the one who was hypothesising about the road wetness and declared that the cloud couldn't possibly have come down quickly, I have tried to indicate that it does exactly that on a regular basis. Try another straw.....
My dear DB - lovely as your story is, it bears no relevance to a low-level transit since all your HEMS work would have been conducted in day VMC conditions at as high (within reason) a height as possible. If you haven't operated at low level in the terrain then your experience can hardly be valid. Remember their flight was a planned low-level transit which gives you a very different view of the approaching weather than being at 1000' - ie much more difficult to anticipate.
Onto your distraction theme - more drivers are distracted by other vehicles and accidents on a daily basis than by hover taxying helicopters - witness the ruber-necking that happens on motorways following an accident in one direction that leads to queues and further accidents in the other. You are making up and inflating risk where it doesn't exist or is so minimal.
The proof is that the car in the video didn't drive into the scenery or another car and there were no accidents on that road for the time the aircraft was there - ergo zero to very minimal distraction.
I have long since feeling the need to defend the crew since they didn't do anything wrong.
There, that was nice
It was nice. Thank you.
However, you need to get up to speed with the Low Level limits for HEMS! We all fly low level when the need arises. Definitely in the Lakes when the weather was suitable to do so. Also please don't exclude my Military time of which I am proud. We certainly operated in the weedisphere hiding from ze enemy! I feel I have some experience flying low level. Of course, for many reasons, we would often fly higher none the least of which would be to not unnecessarily use our exemptions and lower limits....juts cos we can.
You are not daft so I guess you can see that when approaching the Lakes there are 3 distinct options. Go over, go through or go around. The choice always driven by the weather. Its not a crime to make a poor decision. However it will always remain a poor decision.
Also, back in the nineties, we operated Day/Night HEMS to the applicable limits in an unstabilised twin. It worked but was not ideal. Then JAR came along and gave us a leg up requiring an AFCS with Heading and Altitude hold for night work. We are not all dimbos Crab who spout ****e from the top of our heads. Some of us on Rotorheads have similar experience to you (I am guessing) and some might even have more! God forbid.