I am not a heli pilot, so I obviously don't know, but if there is a guard, then how did the pilot accidentally operate this control ?
Originally Posted by
212man
The standard colours for civilian piston engined aircraft have been, for decades:
- Throttle - black
- Mixture - red
- Propellor (if a VP) - blue
Actually, the use of red is precisely to highlight the danger of misusing the control! I see you have a FW ATPL, so I don't know what basic trainer you used, but here's a 60 year old Piper Cherokee as an example (no prop control)
Cessna 152, PA28, PA34.
I fully acknowledged I am being a 'Monday morning quarter-back', or whatever the phrase is
I have a foot in both engineering and piloting camps, and am always wondering about design issues and how accidents happen.
Here we have a situation where a control coloured red is routinely used during normal flight. My point was, is that sensible, or would it be better to only have emergency controls, e.g. fire push buttons, coloured red ?
You can have all the checklists you want, but…
....you have to use them - by reading them, not by memory - and/or make sure they include important items such as a rotor brake !
Your report says the A109 pilot completed their checks and started the engine(s). Well, no, they obviously didn't complete their checks, or the checklist missed-out checking the rotor-brake !