Bell 412 incident Dec 2005 off the coast of Brazil
I think my dates are correct but it wuld be easy to check if it is an issue...... anyway the crew had a oil pressure loss in the MGB and headed for the beach at cruise height/speed. They didn't cancel the master caution so didn't see the 'CHIP' warning that came up a short time afterwards. They continued flight until the gearbox gave up and seized at which point they entered autorotation and managed to set it down with an almighty thump in the waters off the Brazilian coast. All survived and one could argue that they did the right thing but IMHO I would have gone for a controlled ditching but, think for one moment, if they had made it to the beach by virtue of being closer then all would hail they made the right choice.
Seems that predictions about how MGBs behave when they run out of oil are not consistent. Maybe the 92 is a 'worst case' - maybe not. If you survive you made the right choice - if not - well - enough said. If the waters are uninviting and your pax have never done HUET training (as in Brazil) your judgement is coloured. If you made the right choice and stuck it in the water , caught a blade on a wave and didn't make it out then ........ well as I said, if you make it out in one piece then by definition you have made the right decision whatever that was.
One problem about carving straight lines in one piece of sky all your life is that the experience of others may pass you by ... and there is much to learn from the way others do it, their mistakes and their successes.
G