Hi all,
I can understand Daves Finace - she's emotional involved.
Have more than 1.300 h under NVG - similar tasks - landed more than once with only fuel in the support tanks....
And there is more to the situation - there are more crew members involved - talking to each other, interrupting actions/thoughts, possible putting further pressure on or influencing the decision making....
(What is the employer saying, if you land in a field and order a fuel truck?)
So I think, I have also an general understanding for Daves situation.
Who thinks, it couldīt happen to him should take some simulator sessions with an instructor putting pressure on....
Still - as nearly always - it is up to the pilot in command to make the decisions - and get blamed, if it was the wrong one.
What I learned from experience but also from this crash is - better safe than sorry - play it safe - if in doubt, expect the worst scenario.
We have a short reminder, which helps in the process, called
"FORDEC"
F-acts - what happened, what information do I have (cautions, indications i.e.)
O-ptions - which do I have - i.e. engine restart? land? where? continue?
R-isks - to the options I have evaluated
D-ecison
E-xecute - the decision
C-heck - wether my decision is working as planed - otherwise start from the top again.
By now Iīm much more willing to say no / cancelling or delaying a mission - interrupting for refuel - without feeling bad - cause I know, what can happen, if someone lets the pressure influence the flight.
If this accident and the discussions leads to more safe decisions - it wasnīt worthless.
To the question about the autorotation - 30isch seconds between failure of the first and the second engine isnīt really much time, especially, if you havenīt expected the failure of the first engine at this time.
So while getting the picture of what happened and dealing with that emergency, the second done failed on Dave.
Iīm not really surprised, that the Nr decayed during the autorotation.
Still - also something to learn for Eurocopter/Airbus pilots - if you expect an engine failure due to fuel starvation / and possible the failure of the second one, why not switch the Shed bus to on?
No harm done, if you donīt need it but time and hands of the controls saved in case of - a point for the O-ptions, when the Fuel lights come on.