Originally Posted by
FH1100 Pilot
Guys, all this talk of UA recovery and I-IMC training is all very well and good. But it's also very moot - just senseless jibber-jabber. Does any real helicopter pilot think that Ara could've recovered 72EX from that UA once he went inadvertent so close to the ground? Come on, man. It's...silly to even suggest that he could. Once that ship began its uncommanded (and probably undetected) left roll it was game-over.
Add to that the fact that in VFR Part-135 operations in the U.S. pilots are not even required to have an Instrument Rating, much less be familiar with how an autopilot works. Strip away all of the B.S., and Ara might as well have been a VFR line charter pilot in a 206 who "inadvertently" punched into a cloud and lost it. Wasn't the first; won't be the last.
Hmm,...so all those times I had to open my eyes and do the old, "bank/pitch/power" thing while struggling to hold back puke, was for not?
I guess its kinda like the way we always practiced the old "settling with power" recovery,...I mean come on,...when have I ever (in the real world) flown at 3,000' AGL (let alone) then suddenly decided to pull it into a hover?
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