The CVR recordings seem to indicate that is the profile used....that being a Take off from the Ground with no Hover Power Check done beyond considering weight and balance data, OAT, and recollection of the previous two takeoffs from the first two sorties from that site.
But with less fuel on board ...
If that is the case...no actual hovering of the aircraft to confirm what power the aircraft was demanding and what reserve was available...then in my view the Crew made a fatal mistake that day.
My thinking was in that direction as well, from what I gleaned from the NTSB report.
Add in the crew being unaware of the bogus Weight data provided by the company and compounded by the false performance data as well. I see them falling into a trap.
Plenty of holes in this block of cheese. The USN mishap report formula used to have a category of finding called "supervisory error" that I believe is smeared all over this accident.
They should have been doing a Hover Power check for each takeoff as a good safety habit.
Yeah. It doesn't take that long, and it tells you what your bird is doing that day in that locaiton. If it varies significantly from your preflight calc, flags begin to go off.