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Old 31st Dec 2011, 02:28
  #125 (permalink)  
Gomer Pylot
 
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The only 'hand-wringing' that I see comes from your side of the pond, just as in this thread.

There are literally hundreds of flights that take place every night in the US, in mostly single-pilot, single-engine helicopters, and very few result in accidents. Probably more take place in a 24-hour period than in an entire year in England. I don't know the exact numbers, but I doubt it would be very far from that. So there will naturally be more accidents in the US, because there are orders of magnitude more flights. Properly planned and flown, night flight is safe enough. But there will always be those whose ego, need to be a hero, or whatever, outweighs good judgment, and no amount of regulation will stop idiocy. Regulation has slowed it down, though, and there are fewer accidents caused by weather than before. Most programs use NVGs now, and that helps. There is an effort to get autopilots that work in small helicopters, and that will help even more, if decent ones can be certified. Things are getting better, slowly, but accidents won't cease to happen, not overnight nor in the long run. We will continue to find new ways to kill ourselves and our passengers.
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