Re: R22 Down in Stanger
MAUW,
Apology accepted, and I agree with most of what you have to say. Although I don’t know the details of the accident, I agree that a solo student should be able to manage a clutch light illumination in a somewhat better way than this guy did. While I believe that if an instructor fails to teach even the basic stuff like what to do if a light comes on he should be beaten repeatedly over the head I also know that students are capable of the most bizarre actions in given situations. This accident could be due to bad instructing just as much as it could be due to a panicked student. Perhaps this will serve as a reminder to instructors to make sure everything is taught correctly.
As far as his not being able to execute an autorotative landing it seems to be policy in SA (and please correct me if I am wrong) not to train students to perform full EOL’s, so it comes as no surprise that he dinged it. (it was, presumably, his first one after all). A flare recovery is a very different thing to an engine off.