Interesting article in 4Rotors magazine Fall 2011 edition, very pertinent to ShyTqs post;
The incident is
http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/reports/2011/AAR1104.pdf and the magazine summarises it nicely, the report itself is a very good read.
The article '
Fatal Chain of Human Errors' begins;
'Imagine you are a chief pilot and you decide to delay a SAR mission, and not to send out the only available two most junior pilots on a helicopter mission that you consider an extreme risk: high altitude, strong winds, intermittent snow, and zero illumination. It is not only a very wise decision, it is the only correct decision on the rotor community's way to reduce accidents.
But come next morning you get a call from the executive floor that you are relieved of all chief pilot responsibilities because of your decision to delay the SAR mission.
Some two years later
One of those two pilots now holds the job of that chief pilot. On June 9, 2009 ...
... Initially, the pilot decided not to fly because of the strong winds in the more than 11,000ft high mountain region. But only a few minutes later he changes his mind. Post accident interviews indicated that-during the decision making to launch the helicopter or not-several people had expressed their concern that the hiker would not be able to survive on the mountain overnight.'
Movingly, the dispatcher was the pilots wife and they were in contact all the time until the crash
