CRAB and HF, the things you talk about are long forgotten by us ex mil and civilian pilots mainly because we are not spending 90% of our flight time practising these things in the air.
In offshore flying, done properly, there is no scope for exploring the edges of envelopes or pissing about with PAT etc. Our 6 month recurrent training is arguably not sufficient and certainly is spent doing other things than what you two keeping discussing on this thread. It confuses most of us.
In the "average" offshore helicopter your concepts are already extent. This accident, in so far as we know, may well have been caused by the crew not realising early enough that their speed was decaying due to an inappropriate application of AP modes and power setting. Recognising these errors starts with understanding the AP display indications and a very very robust knowledge of "Mixed" mode flying and its potential pitfalls.
Having said all that, to illustrate how annoying your detail can be, you talk about cyclic controlling height, collective control speed or whatever, but on the back of the power curve all these concepts are different especially that the cyclic can no longer hold height. This why in the later EC models, if you are dumb enough to deploy ALT or V/S alone on the back of the power curve, the AP engages the mode on the collective.
Basic flight training is what it always is but we are way beyond PAT when the AP has control of just one AXIS (vertical and/or longitudinal).
For those who do not like the term "Mixed Mode", we are exploring this term now because we cannot describe the condition where ALT is alone on the collective anymore using 3/4 Axis nomenclature. Also, the term "Mixed Mode" we want to firmly associate with the concept that the Pilot Flying must take custody one or more controls.
Someone said earlier, that if they were forced to fly an approach in 3 Axis mode he would prefer to engage IAS and not V/S on the cyclic. I agree with this because from the very outset, the pilot has to modulate collective to maintain the vertical profile and is therefore far less likely to forget it at MDA at min IMC IAS.
DB
Last edited by DOUBLE BOGEY; 7th Sep 2013 at 08:46.