Originally Posted by
wrench1
On the seventh pass, an employee of the operator noticed the snorkel swinging. He called the LEE air traffic control tower on the phone and told the controller to ask the pilot of the helicopter to slow down and land immediately. Before the controller could contact the pilot, the helicopter transitioned to forward flight, gaining altitude and airspeed.
On an initial local test flight of an external system, why not have a ground observer dedicated to the flight with a handheld radio?