SAS, its easy to believe that we can sit back in our armchairs and analyse as you suggest. However, real life, as you so eloquently anecdote, is somewhat different. Most of us have had similar experiences to that portrayed in both incidents.
However, there are rules governing this kind of flying and in both cases I think we would be hard pressed to demonstrate compliance.
I disagree with your understanding of the A109 crew. I do not believe they were found to be "innocent" of anything.
So what is the difference between your story, mine and the myriad of others who have ended up in ****e weather and learned the "easy" way. Well, some of it is luck. But in the words of the great Gary Player, "The harder I practice, the luckier I get". So I think we can all agree that experience and skill play their part.
However, sometimes perfectly competent pilots end up pushing beyond the acceptable limits and their luck runs out. I believe that is just a stone cold fact.
The only real defence against this kind of outcome is to avoid getting into the situation in the first place AND to recognise and accept that the limits are SOLELY there to protect us from our own stupidity/over-enthusiasm/lack of experience/external pressure etc, ect.
What astounds me in most of these cases is the posters who simply cannot accept that there are rules, OM procedures and plain common dog sense that should be followed/applied/respected as the first step towards avoiding an early bath.
Without wanting to thread creep or indeed "harp" on ad-infinitum, given what I write here does not provide latitude to fly along a public road, in peace time, 10 feet off the ground, in fog close to families in their cars. Its a madness that needs to be labelled for what it actually is!
I do not know anything of this incident. However, if it transpires that an expensive helicopter was wrecked and people seriously injured, just because they wanted to get to a trade show then...………………….
Last edited by DOUBLE BOGEY; 15th Mar 2019 at 07:48.