Walter,
" It would have been so easy to get the same conditions as the crash by scheduling the demo at the right time of year and time of day."
Agreed - but what do you say to the relatives of those on board if it has the same result?
Incidentally, what purports to be an extract from the "crew logbook" of the RN Sea King scrambled from Prestwick was printed in the Sunday Herald 3 Feb 2002:-
"Closed accident scene from the south of the Mull, found four or five lines of fire in the heather on the hillside but cloud and smoke prohibited any cliff transit to the crash site. Landed at landing pad near lighthouse to assist with casevac if required (we weren't!)."
The helicopter was scrambled at 1810 (local) - outside normal working hours. They didn't have time to wait for someone to find a photographer.