Salute!
@ Crab thank you from a surviving "light" pilot. I learned many survival skills from "close calls" because I had barely enuf skill to recover from, and come home. I thank my instructors and the old farts in the ready room and their war stories. I always questioned my reactions to unusual events after getting back home. You know, engine failure, structural damage, and those other minor problems we all faced at one time or another.
I am glad we are getting into the IIMC discussion, because until you see it for real, it's hard to make the other guy unnerstan how serious the situation is. And altho I am not a rotor head, I escorted helos on combat SAR missions in my previous life in two different planes and time frames, but same theater of ops. Depending upon the monsoon season we had lottsa scud and low clouds on one side of the mounts, and other times nil. SAS can testify, as he flew helos about same time as I and same places.
One post mentioned the pere-planned maneuver should you encounter a sudden fog front or cloud layer after cresting a ridge. So we survivors of such encounters can thank our "practice" imaginary missions that we envisioned while waiting in line for the haircut.
I have a bad feeling about the cause of this crash due to preliminary data indicating both a higher than normal speed and rapid descent and heading change. Doesn't sound like a standard CFIT. There has to be something else besides a turn the wrong way at a lower altitude to avoid the rocks and a transition to attitude, power and speed on the gauges.
As usual, I continue to give the pilot/crew a break. OTOH, I have lost about a half dozen friends due to CFIT or poor navigation/situation awareness or spatial disorientation in both commercial airlines and military planes.
Gums sends...