Re: Three Dead....Another Night Bad Weather Flight Over Dark Terrain
I disagree with SASless about cost as the issue with real IFR capability, since the industry now has the cost of the accidents added to its bill, at 100X the cost to do it right.
The autopilots in most helos, if 4 que, can do the auto approach, and these are not oppressively expensive.
To BigMIke's point, the problem is flying VRF when it is really IMC, and the answer is to stop flying unless properly equipped. But stopping operations is not realistic, unless we all agree to get out of the market. For every accident, there are 100 guys who get away with it, so we continue. The problem is EXACTLY like the problem intersection in town where car wrecks happen regularly, until a traffic light is put in. The human factors of why pilots push is complex, and you will get NOWHERE when you simply try to more tightly regulate the human judgement. The answer is to add technical capability to perform safe operations in instruments to do the missions required, and to supplant visionics (like NVG's) for night ops.
The wrong answer is to stand on the ramp with more safety posters and hold them up higher.