The point Chuck was primarily making is
Never do something stupid fast.
I'm quoting that in case it's got lost in the discussion of what he should have done in this particular situation. It doesn't really matter in this case: it's a subject for another thread.
I said something similar in an article I wrote a bit back on dealing with emergencies. My version was that we say you should 'aviate, navigate, communicate', but we miss out the bit before 'aviate', which is to deal with what's going on in your brain and then make a correct decision. Chuck said it far better than I did, in far fewer words. I hope anyone who needed it was listening.
Years ago, low hours pilots were crashing R22s by throwing them into autorotation and messing it up, and investigation was showing that an auto wasn't required. The Robinson Safety Course now teaches that if the low rotor RPM warning horn goes off, you open the throttle and make sure you have an engine failure before you throw the machine into auto in a panic.
Now, don't turn this thread into a discussion of how long you've got to do that in an R22; start another thread. The point is, even in a situation like that, you have a fraction of a second to think what to do, and make the
correct decision, and to not 'do something stupid fast'.
I spend a lot of my working life teaching students to respond quickly to emergencies. It never hurts to be reminded of what they should do
first. Thanks, Chuck.
