ShyTorque - despite being a dyed in the wool twin engined guy myself, you say that an autopilot can sometimes be better than a second engine rings true for me. PHI practice EOL's to the water and are a first rate organisation. I have not followed this accident closely enough. Seems like your commonsense is shining through again - you old pelican! If all the operators pushed for AP's life would be better for the GOM guys I am sure. UG
UG, thanks, I know you're only saying those kind words since I bought the beer..
Twins for me too, not just for engine performance reasons (not always as good as it might be, especially when the type of engine emergency you experience "can't happen" - "Oh yes it can!" as we both know) but for the duplication of other systems they usually bring as part of the package.
Engines thankfully rarely fail these days but the human animal is still based on a stone age design, which wasn't meant to operate with both feet off the ground and so it gets easily confused in cloud. The machine doesn't know it's in cloud and so it carries on regardless of the lack of visual cues. Autopilots are essential for low viz ops, day or night, shame they don't come as standard in every helicopter.