TTB
The simlar circumstances I refer to are the 6 or 7 R44 seemingly dynamic rollover accidents that have occured this year to G registration R44 helicopters.
The AAIB are not investigating all of them (they may not be investigating any for all I know) and some will be dealt with by a form submitted to them by the pilot / operator.
I know for a fact that several of the pilots concerned are inexperienced, some of them were solo students and even if they were very experienced SFHers something has still gone wrong when accidents are happening just because the aircraft was landing or taking off, if there are no technical defects with the aircraft.
How many organisations stop their SFHers flying when they do not meet the limits of the AD set in the limitiations section of the R22 (not R44 anymore) POH ?
Unrelated to the R44 accidents but relevant nonetheless
Pilots make mistakes, but so do instructors, examiners and the system in which we operate, these accidents are not just happening and a shrug of the shoulders won't make them stop, I have suggested to the CAA a couple of times that they should start to look for patterns in where training is carried out and by whom the pilots who go on to have accidents are trained and tested by to see if there is any commonality, there may not be, but I doubt it.
There are examiners out there who will sign off LSTs and LPCs because they are being paid, they surely must shoulder some of the responsibility when some of the accidents that subsequently occur happen.
Is it right for examiners to fly over MAUW rather than split LSTs in two because they would need to refuel ? I suggest not, but it is happening. What message is that sending to the new pilots ?
Sometimes people fly outside their own abilites, sometimes they are taught badly and sometimes they are tested badly. The repsonsibility does not always lie with the guy at the controls, if he knows no better because the training and testing system has failed him.