To: helmet fire
In an unrelated post one of the pilots was addressing situations where an EMS pilot could refuse to go out on a pick up even if he knew that the person to pick up would not survive if the helicopter was not dispatched. Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit but that pilot can if he deems it necessary refuse to fly. Dave Gershowitz or any other military pilot can not refuse an assignment even if he knows it would place him in harms way. This case the Coast Guard was charged with opening of the shipping lanes on the ice bound Lake Superior. Our helicopter was the eyes of the icebreaker and on occasion this required that we fly in what would be considered to be not the best conditions. It wasn’t freezing fog it was that the temperature gradient caused the moisture in the air to condense out. We never had any problems with ice accretion.