I would be curious to know how many multi-thousand hour heli pilots would seriously be willing to do a precautionary landing due to the weather closing in around them making it somewhat precarious to press on further due to impending obstacles.
I suspect many would probably only do a precautionary if forced to do so by mechanical failure and would much rather use their "experience" to do some scud-running of a questionable nature on the basis that "you've flown round these parts a million times before and know them like the back of your hand".
well, no. you are mixing and matching to suit an argument.
there is a world of difference between dumping a heli down in Hyde Park, because the weather is a tad dicky and a forced landing due to engine failure.
heli's dont have much in their aerodynamic structer that leaves marging for error, damaged main rotor blade? the thing is going to came apart very quickly and the souls on board are passengers.
lose a tail and the souls on baord on are just passengers lose a rblade off the tail rotor, the souls on board are just passengers.
in terms of engine falure, that is *why* single and and twin engine are differentiated in operational ability.
in terms of the precautionary due weather.. well a single perhaps a stream of cirrus to one pilot may be cause for a precautionary to another, not.
you are throwing away a great safety asset that helicopters hold over fixed wings.
wrong. heli's operational assets are the abilities to be used in locations where runway provisions are not possible, like urban areas, or offshore installations. certain helis have the capacity for a considerable range allowing city pairs or longer sectors between offshore installations to be undertaken.
I might be wrong, but the problem is that its only human nature that with experience comes confidence, and its only human nature that people tend to err on the side of over-confidence and are unwilling to accept what might be seen as defeat.
and again as before,this is what i take issue with. you do not seem to be a commercially rated pilot, yet you lay at the Late Peter Barnes feet that he was overconfident due to his experience.
you are not a pilot, you were not there, you do not know the situations or circumstances that resulted in the accident, so stop making conjecture against someone who is not here to defend himself when cause and circumstance has not even been established by AAIB.