Chinook - Still Hitting Back 3 (Merged)

[walter kennedy]

ShyTorque
RE the trust of DME systems, I picked up this impression over time from various publications, manuals, etc – did not expect any argument on it, you do surprise me but I do not argue your experience – have you asked anyone you know who flies/has flown North sea or Navy helos?
Anyway, regarding this particular piece of kit, this is how its use is described in one manufacturer's (ACI) blurb:
<<This radio set works in conjunction with an AN/PRC-112 handheld radio transponder in order to precisely locate downed or missing pilots – in a single pass under harsh conditions ….>> (my emphasis).
Implies trust, doesn't it?
And this does fit with their approach to that LZ which was an ideal location for such a demo/exercise with the local weather fixed on the landmass and very predictable for that time of day in Summer with a strong southerly forecast – days ahead and very common conditions there – you could count on them. Why wouldn't you want to check out the new capability when you could be passing the ideal location anyway without delaying the schedule at all? (Cost of flying hours and availability of a/c for training?) Why else would they have gone to the Mull in those conditions with an obviously more sensible route pre-planned? They were using a callsign appropriate for a SAR exercise rescuing a downed pilot, I have been told by a couple of very different sources.
Had they been lined up with that LZ (as I have tried to explain many times) they would have had an easy, safe wave-off to the left – their premature turn to 035 makes sense if they had been expecting the handset to have been at the LZ but in the event was ½ mile or so up the hill.

You know, this equipment has been fitted to some HC2 Chinooks for a long time now and yet no one who has actually used the kit has posted on this thread to clear up some of the issues - if only for academic interest - the UK must be the only country in the world that regards this kit as a super secret item - why would that be? No acknowledgement of a known LZ for Chinooks at the Mull - no acknowledgement of the existence let alone description of use for so long of a piece of kit so much used by NATO countries - this is not how it should be in a free country. However remote you may think the possibility of its use was in this case, there still remains a possibility for the many reasons I have put to you - and because of the implications, this aspect needs to be thoroughly explored, not stonewalled.
How about getting a fuller and more plausible account of this crash out before Xmas so as to give some closure to those affected directly other than leaving doubts as to the abilities of those pilots?
They had not got lost in cloud while hurrying along listening to pop music, being famished and fatigued and therefore negligent in their preparation/planning - they had not failed to cope with the new a/c - they had been misled by others who should be brought to justice.