of Matthew Harding the AAIB said,
The most striking clues to the cause of this accident arise from the commander's declarations that he had penetrated IMC conditions coupled with the evidence of three eye witnesses who saw the helicopter in a steep nose-up pitch attitude. These clues indicate loss of control in flight conditions
which the neither the pilot nor the helicopter were qualified to enter. However, the local weather was described as fine by the witnesses who saw the helicopter's lights throughout its final manoeuvres and no-one reported seeing it penetrate cloud. Moreover, the accident might have been avoided if the helicopter had been recovered correctly from this abnormal manoeuvre.
This analysis leads to the conclusion that IMC penetration was a perception rather than a fact and explains the probable reasons for the mis-perception and unsuccessful recoveryfrom the nose-high manoeuvre.
Weather, the last I saw of it (11pm) and from 10 miles away, was patchy high cloud with a very bright full moon. Wittering is very close and will have exact details.