<<Before they do so again now, I will mention that supporters of the negligence finding have often pointed to the fact that the aircraft seems to have been manoeuvring under control when it impacted the ground, but the fact that the aircraft was in this extreme (for IMC) attitude suggests the opposite - particularly when the apparent position of the rudder pedals at impact is taken into account.>>
I am not a supporter of the negligence finding but would like to point out that the attitude and control positions as found were consistent with an emergency evasive manouevre – like they suddenly realised their predicament (like actually entering the ground mist which would have given them about 50 ft to go).
The large left “rudder” pedal position in particular was consistent with getting a large yaw quickly – the Chinook is unstable in the yaw axis (a complex control system tames this) and takes no energy to swing it broadside, the big fuselage slowing it down rapidly – this is a manouevre I am told is regularly practiced by special forces pilots – probably not at this speed but in such an emergency, an entirely appropriate manouevre.