Helinut, you must be flying a different type AS355 than I do. My RFM states, in the case of the DOORS warning light:
1. Reduce speed below 120 kts.
2. Visually check doors.
3. Land IF possible (my emphasis).
4. If landing not possible, continue flight at reduced speed. Make shallow descent with low sink rate.
NOWHERE does it say to land as soon as possible, with the implied acceptance of greater risk during landing that at a prepared aviation site. In other words, you carried out precisely the procedure recommended by Eurocopter.
BTW, you are dead right that the luggage doors on the AS350/355 are "engineered to fail".
I agree that the first line in almost any emergency procedure should be "use your brain". As one TRE on the 212 told me, one of his favorites is to have one engine shut down for low oil pressure or the like. Then a fire in the other engine is simulated. The number of students who will immediately shut down their only running engine regardless of terrain or other factors, simply "because it is the procedure" is over 50% he tells me.
I guess that Eurocopter (or Aerospatiale as they were then) were trying to tell us "Don't risk smashing up the aircraft because of this light. Set it down when you're sure it's safe to do so."
BTW, aren't crash checks done by the accident investigation team? You know: after the crash?
