Lemain:
Seriously, has anyone here used lights while flying professionally for collision avoidance?
Used them? Not deliberately, but they have certainly helped me. No way to know for sure if the extra second(s) was the difference but I'm glad I had it!
Mixture:
Quote:
yeah of course.. any heli can just land at will in a park in inner city london, have a smoke and wait for the weather to clear up.
And its attitudes like that are contributing factors towards accidents....the red-mist, press-on effect !
You made a bad call on the weather. Its closed in around you. You know you're about to hit an area of London that you would rather not be in under cover of cloud and potential ice.
Assuming you have exhausted all other viable options, don't press-on, put the damn thing down ..... I'm sure the CAA would much rather see you do that than end up hitting a crane.
Infact, didn't someone link to a AIC pink on the subject ? You might want to read it..... P146/2012 issued 20 December 2012.
The reality is that, if one were to just "put it down" in downtown London, their @ss would be (the proverbial) grass.
Lets use our risk matrix:
1. precautionary landing: consequences significant (job in jeopardy, CAA action, adverse media coverage, blow to ego) and likelihood 100%. Worse if the a/c was damaged in the landing, a pedestrian was struck by debris, or a looky-loo driver had an accident!
2. press on: consequences dire (accident? or less) but likelihood very (extremely) low (been here before, know the area, got a plan)
Most pilots, who got where they are by being confident in themselves, would see less risk in #2. All the hindsight in the world on here won't change that.
I highlighted one line from above: does anyone really think that after a precautionary in the downtown the result would be positive???? Give me a break!
Usually the situation 'feels' controllable until very near the end, that is why it is so hard to call it off. Once the decision to launch is made, options begin to fade away. That first early go/no go is the big safety gate!
That said, when I first looked at the weather posted on pprune (can't locate it now) it looked like just another marginal VFR day, except maybe for the freezing fog. Without local area knowledge I might hesitate. For him, I expect it was just another day.
There are many issues that MIGHT have had an impact. Too many posters on here pick one and then spend endless effort trying to prove why theirs is the best, if not the only, explanation. It becomes a question of WHO is right, not WHAT is right. Hmmmm, what regular training that most pilots get covers this??
I expect the AAIB will find a very complex chain with simple causes, no earth-shattering conclusions or revelations.
For me: the flight was marginal but considered doable with a back-up plan/diversion (he was considered skilled, professional, experienced). Encountered the bad wx but client and boss would be happy that he tried (my suspicion of motivation, not malicious). A SPIFR ship in marginal wx so was likely coupled and flying faster than would have been if hand-flying (been there done that). Distracted at a critical time by radio (freq change, call, pos'n report, gps check) and hit an object that was difficult to see in the circumstances.
None of us is infallible. We are all diminished by the loss.