Originally Posted by
megan
Unfortunately happens to experienced folk as well, remember the great safety advocate "Torch" Lewis writing on the subject and telling the story of how he made an ILS in a Lodestar to landing in zero/zero conditions because his boss demanded it and he feared for his job if he didn'tExcept when you fly for certain oil companys crab, transit 300' IMC was par for the course, descend to the water at night through fog, hover taxi to the platform legs and climb to the deck. Not me, but he became the CP.
I take your point Megan but the R in IFR stands for Rules - if your operator chooses to break them that is their folly (can't imagine any insurer would pay out following a crash).
I've seen and heard of all sorts of stupid stuff done in helicopters 'to get the job done' which some get away with and some don't - depends on what, if any, risk mitigation is applied.
IE - I have hover-taxied from field to field for an hour in the dark and fog to get a seriously ill casualty to hospital when IFR wasn't an option (except with a very long diversion) and we were in a remote area.
The risk mitigation? Very well trained military crew used to low level ops, NVG, Rad Alt and an ability to convert to IFR and divert a long way with the fuel reserves.