Originally Posted by
Sir Korsky
Looks like he came in at top end torque and had nothing left to arrest the decent with. First class lesson in power management.
Torque doesn't do much good if it's handed to a rotor system that is operating at a fraction of its normal capacity. At 3,000' an Astar has
plenty of power to arrest the rate of descent seen in the video, even if it were full of fuel and pax. In this case, the pilot was the sole occupant, and was returning at the completion of a flight, so probably not close to a full load of fuel. I'm sure the pilot pulled up on the collective, the blades pitched as far as they could go, and that the engine maintained Nr near 100% to impact. (at least there's been no mention so far of a mechanical issue) The pilot didn't need more power to arrest the descent. The rotor system needed "clean" air (VRS recovery).
If you're driving up a steep icy hill, it doesn't do any good to mash the throttle. The engine roars and the wheels spin, but if the tires have no traction, gravity will win.