There but for the Grace of God....
Re the Gazelle.
ShyTorque -- I doubt whether the medical, or the passengers contributed to this accident.
A classic case, as we've said so many times before of a pilot flying "in conditions beyond his capability". One bad decision, that's all it takes.
Re the R44 on take off.
I know of FOUR similar accidents in 2009. There could be more. All in R44s. All with the same result. Written off aircraft, no or minor injuries to the people inside the aircraft. But it won't be long before someone gets hurt or killed.
Could it be the way the pre-flight checks are being done that set up these accidents? Could it be that it newish "GOVERNOR ON" method is actually contributing to a loss of control - ie the aircraft getting airbourne before the pilot was ready?
Re the R22 on one Magneto.
A long, long time ago I flew from Shobdon to Redhill. It's about a 2 hour trip.
On the way down I noticed that the aircraft was flying a bit slower, using more power and sounding a bit rougher than usual.
When I did the post-flight mag check, I clicked left, and yes, you've guess it, the engine cut straight away.
So I'd flown all the way one one Mag, and even noted that the aircraft wasn't flying quite right, but still I didn't notice or check that I had "Mags on both".
Would I have survived had the engine quit? Probably, I had a few hundred hours by then. Would I have crashed? Almost certainly.
My bag of luck was obviously not yet empty, unlike the poor soul in the accident report, but I can attest that a mistake like that is very, very easy to make.
Hope this helps you all take extra care on your pre-flights.
Big Ls.