This is a rumor (rumour) network, and almost everyone hides behind aliases. You won't necessarily find a lot of truth here. It is very difficult to know the experience and knowledge of posters unless you have experience yourself and read the forum over a fairly long term. Reading this forum for critical information, when you aren't an experienced pilot, can be a dangerous thing. My advice would be to listen to, and respect, the pilots who are flying you. They are the only ones you can trust to know anything about the aircraft they're flying. The oil companies will lie to you, and the helicopter operators will lie to you, but the pilots are putting their lives on the line every day. Perhaps they should talk to you more, but they have schedules to keep, and aren't necessarily good at talking and explaining. If they start up the engines and take off, you can be sure that they believe that they will return safely and have no fear of the aircraft.
I understand your concerns, but they won't be satisfied here. Not all the posts on this thread, nor on any other, are from pilots who know what they're talking about, and you may get false information from someone who claims to know a lot, but really doesn't. The pilots who fly you in and out know about the aircraft, and about the specifics of the aircraft. Flying an aircraft for hours every day over very hostile terrain does wonders for teaching one about it, and I'm sure that any complacency that might have existed prior to the accident is gone.
Last edited by Gomer Pylot; 25th May 2009 at 14:51.
Reason: typos