Originally Posted by
SimonK
Same here - Puma demonstration of Incipient VRS by the wonderful "Parts" (RIP). We entered at 6500' AGL backwards and down with 0 airspeed, got a bit mushy through 500' ROD but nothing outrageous however, as we hit 800' ROD it pitched what felt like 90 degrees nose down and rolled 180 degrees, We came out about 1800' AGL fully out of balance with about 30kts IAS and about 20 degrees ND. It were horrible. Oh it was night too. No idea how many times we rolled but it was completely out of control, no ifs or buts, we ended up pointing 180 degrees from our entry heading but I think we had gone around a few times. I'm not sure if Vuichard would have been any better or not.
“Parts” was actually a student of mine on the Puma OCU, in the mid 1980s but we didn’t deliberately demo VRS on the course back then! My encounter was on a night operation where we were required to hover on instruments at 10,000 feet or so (if you’re ex Pumas you probably know the role). The handling pilot (another previous student of mine) lost his concentration after a very long night in poor visibility and mishandled the attempt to get to the hover (I think we probably fell out backwards). Down we went, very quickly indeed and I prompted him to regain airspeed; I think I probably assisted him by pushing the cyclic to the forward stop… we lost a great deal of altitude, it was very sobering how quickly it happened.