Old and horrified. Many thanks for the photos, it adds a certain clarity to the debate... but having read the entire thread up to that point i felt we were dealing with a really challenging site. It looks absolutely fine on the photos, absolutely typical of any number of sites here in the lakes...
Crab im slowly getting to grips with some of the flight regimes you discuss, many thanks for articulating it in a manner which is digestable, rather than just saying it 'happens'..
But while the confined area looks real easy from an armchair, if the wind isnt favourable , or perhaps a downdraught from the steep hill.. it will become a handful even with a fist full of power. So why bother going on in in the first place? Many years ago a friend of mine over pitched an enstrom and since then i love taking on confined areas but always insist on either nil wind or headwind, always solo in the 22 and always light in the 44. I have a fear of uncertainty and an even bigger fear of dying. My other little habit is glancing in at the gps versus airspeed just to check a rogue tailwind has not sneaked up on me!!... Plus smoke, ripples on water, direction any birds are facing etc etc..
Its easy to sit and comment but to me that site looks fine. I guess the poor chap must have had a real bad wind or something.. and i find myself questioning the thought process behind committing to land, if indeed wind or poor judgement was a factor. And good man the engineer who defended the aircraft, if memory serves me correct 90% of accidents are pilot error. There is nothing wrong with those machines its just we cant fly them.