I finally read this report, sounds like almost a carbon copy of the UH-60M incident in Mobile Bay several years back, although they narrowly avoided the same loss of life.
As non-rated crew, I’ve determined to:
(1. Not allow myself and my crew to depart in terrible weather conditions, make my concerns known.
(2. IF there’s an IIMC event, I’m bringing my scan inside to the PFD to cross monitor airspeed, rotor speed, attitude and positive rate of climb.
Just because I don’t have access to the controls doesn’t mean I can’t contribute.
As to my first point, I’m well aware that it’s easy to say what I’ll do when faced with pressure (real or self induced) to accomplish a flight, and there have been times where I SHOULD have said something but didn’t. Other times I DID say something, and it was well received by the crew and we delayed departure for better weather (or didn’t leave at all). I think verbalizing and even typing it down here helps reinforce the mindset though.
I have to say I’ve been blessed for the most part with crews that make it easy to make the right call. In my experience, the close calls with weather came from complacency, being with a crew that I had worked with for years, excessive professional courtesy kept me quiet a few times.
Other times, it was an unfamiliar crew mix and before I could even recognize it, rules were being “bent” to have “fun”. Both were sobering situations, ones I’d like to avoid going forward.
FltMech