Originally Posted by
megan
Things are not quite so simple. When you understand the issues facing the pilot you perhaps can understand. His departure from home base required maximum take off power, being so heavy, actually over permissible take off weight, the engine was min spec performance wise, the wind was from the right side, pushing in more right pedal requires more power for the tail rotor/fenestron, power being sent to the tail rotor/fenestron is power that's not available to the main rotor. Forgetting about any performance benefit from the wind he, more than likely, would have had his hands full trying to keep the engine within limits. Just my guess. The pilot commented that he was "busy", a sign that he was anxious/concerned/up tight/in full knowledge he was facing a difficult approach perhaps.