Very sad. Condolences to the family of the person killed, and wishing a speedy recovery to those injured.
There have, I believe, been 3 notifed mishaps with the EC120 involving a spot turn (one, I think, was untintentional and in gusty conditions) in the hover.
The EC120, like many helicopters, requires a fair amount of fore/aft cyclic input during the manoeuvre to retain a stable pitch attitude, and these control inputs are exacerbated by increasing surface wind speeds.
For an aircraft that hangs right skid low in the hover, the roll attitude increases noticeably with a crosswind from the right.
After the previous occcurrence, EC issued a Service/Safety Letter(?) reminding pilots that they must fly with some cyclic pitch applied at all times. I certainly find that this reduces my own tendency to overcontrol in roll in the hover...and I have fair amount of time on the type!
Last edited by idle stop; 10th Sep 2012 at 07:16.