Thanks 212man. I apologize that I reacted as strongly as I did, and I understand your desire that no one be misinformed, especially the new and low time pilots. I'm glad we're still friends.
I agree with your comments and I understand the decision made by the pilot in the accident report.
One think that still troubles me is why loss of anti-torque spins in helos are so daunting to most pilots. In FW flying, aircraft have to meet design certification requirements for spins, and pilots have to be trained in spin recovery techniques. Why is it that airframe design for spins and pilot training for spins is such a relatively "unexplored" area in helicopter flight (other than "lower the collective, chop the throttle and autorotate")? Is it because the "egg-beater" can be sat down anywhere (which is only a partial truth because in reality it can't be sat down just "anywhere") that not much effort has been put into "flying" spin recovery techniques?
I also want to look at the FARs (when I get some time) for helo certification, to see exactly what the certification requirements are for alternative anti-torque and spin stability, and to see what requirements actually exist.
For what it's worth, I think more work needs to done on method 2 listed above (the low/mid torque, run-on landing method) so that this loss of T/R recovery method is not nearly so daunting to most pilots.
I guess after seeing the ANG Blackhawk (loss of T/R) crash video last year mentioned above, I just started thinking that other alternatives have to be available other than just entering into a flat spin, and accepting the fact that you have to go down in a totally inhospitable area, that for those pilots and crew just destroyed their helo and seriously injured some of them. What was weird is that while the spin before descent was brief, it didn't really look that unstable. The helo just hovered for a moment, in a nice (not too rapid) flat spin before it started descending, and the descent was pretty flat as well.
It's the characteristics of these flat spins that I don't think are very well understood, and a "flying" recovery from these spins certainly isn't well understood. The only recovery method that is fairly well understood is the "autorotate, you're going down" recovery method.
It's what guys like GulfPLt were able to accomplish, that make me think that loss of anti-torque spins don't have to be as daunting as we perceive then to be now. I'm just hoping that research and investigation can provide some better options in the future, as the options we have now for loss of T/R recovery are pretty limited in my view.
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Safe flying to you...
[This message has been edited by Flight Safety (edited 02 July 2001).]