Originally Posted by
Traffic_Is_Er_Was
I've had another look at the various videos and tried to reconcile the timings. From the through the fence departure video, it's about 12-13 seconds from just after XKQ's lift off from the pad, to impact. From the onboard video, it's about 12-13 seconds from when XKQ is first said to be visible until the time of impact. So XKQ should be small and close to the pad when first observed, not quite large and seemingly quite close as that dark (admittedly helicopter shaped) object appears to be. So it should be there somewhere.
If you use the CH9 video, pause and then step back/forward using the fullstop and comma keys, you
can see XKQ. It's a small object within that larger darker area, and the attitude of the aircraft seems correct. Nose down with a heading that matches the departure video, and rotor flicker in the right place…
…This is XKQ, departing from the pad, coming out of the shadows of the dark area
Traffic_Is_Er_Was, Avv and others: I am with you now. Thanks. I will update post #313 to reference yours. Sorry to have been slow on the uptake regarding your various comments re tree branches, shadow of tree etc. Good cross referencing of timings in video, and spotting of shadow over pad and water etc. At start of video of departure (#14 by Skillsy), helicopter shadow is also briefly seen over pad in same general location. Flicker of rotor seems more apparent on starboard side in on-board footage released by Channel 9 (link in my post #313) , possibly as more light reflecting off retreating blades due to their pitch relative to sun?? Bradleygolding (#377) I think you may be interpreting something slightly different again compared to Traffic_?
Update: I thought it would be worth adding a pair of screen shots here to illustrate what Traffic_Is_Er_Was has said, one from the ground video taken behind the departure pad, the other from onboard -XH9. These screen shots would both be within a second or so of one another and are when the shadow of the tail of -XKQ is still over the helipad (circled in green on in ground video). With -XKQ still quite close to the pad it certainly wouldn't have been as large as my initial interpretation in earlier post. Aspect of it as seen from -XH9 would also differ from the outline I was previously suggesting:
