Originally Posted by
26500lbs
One of, if not THE, most bizarre replies to this thread.
Maybe, but let me elaborate. I have 3000+ hours experience on modern IFR helicopters with DDAFCS, EFIS, IIDS, 4-axis coupled autopilot and all that other fancy stuff. I gotta say I don't feel any safer with all those black boxes I've got to look after, taking up all that brain power making sure they're doing what I thought I've told them to do, and contemplating whether I am where I'm supposed to be. Supposedly making the flying easier for me. Because it doesn't.
More recently I've gotten back to basics flying busted-arse 40 year old IFR helicopter with no auto-pilot, no electronic displays, no nothing, just a weather radar and a single GPS. More-over, the float bottle might have no gas in it, the engines might be on extension 100 hours past TBO, the liferafts might be time-ex, and the windscreen wipers don't work especially when it's bucketing down in a tropical thunderstorm for 5 months of the year. In my situation, if I had a modern helicopter with all that elaborate auto-pilot stuff mentioned before, wouldn't get me home under the IFR, and it would be a maintenance nightmare. If I can get down to 300' and see the sea surface through a hole in the scud that's all the break I need to get VFR and get home. Failing that, just turn around and go back to where I started out from, which doesn't happen very often.
Which is why I say; sometimes these modern helicopters can be a hindrance, just keeping on-top of everything, with all those check-lists and other things to contend with that keep a 2-pilot crew busy. I know, I've been there. Which is why my busted-arse 40-year old helicopter with the pilot door window wound down can get me home, because once I can see what's going on outside is probably much safer than all those black boxes taking up my concentration and brain power when I can't see outside.
I know my circumstances can't be applied to the NS environment, for a whole stack of reasons. I'm just making an argument that getting back to the most basics as part of a wider training regime can be of benefit...