Just some observations, as my brain is too tired of theorising, especially when there's so much going round in circles, and repetition. There is always merit in reading & understanding all previous posts before suddenly having an idea that was posted by someone else 3 days (maybe 10 pages) ago!
DAPT - would be nice if EC could release a Training Manual at sensible cost. I've seen a very out of date one (T1 & P1 only - although most systems are the same) but understand that when someone investigated an up-to-date version, they were quoted EU6,000 - for a CD!! I would have expected this to have been provided with the aircraft - it's a miniscule part of the £3-4m that operators paid for the airframe and an invaluable training aid, from the one I saw. It would not be difficult to put it on the t.i.p.i. site, and easier to update.
Some have mentioned Simulator training. The pilot in this case, being a Bond employee, will most likely have conducted a useful part of both his initial, and recurrent, training in the excellent facility at Staverton. Depending on the outcome of the investigation, it may be more value is placed on such training?
It has been hinted by others, but some less familiar with 135 systems may wish to understand that pressing the FIRE button (or actually de-pressing, as the button comes out, rather than goes in) requires a wire lock to be broken & a flap to be lifted, before the button can be pressed - No2 button is fairly easy to reach, No1 is more of a stretch.
The engine then takes some time to think about shutting down, as all the button does is close the LP cock, and actuate the Fire system (it'll only fire the bottle if there's still a fire detected below 50% N1). It takes a frustrating number of seconds for the engine to actually wind down, certainly if you want to get rid of the torque - which is why pilots will elect to use throttles as the quickest, and most to-hand, method of killing unwanted power.
Re training EOLs, by day or night. I think TC mentioned some good reasons why not but, in addition, we need to remember that twin engine machines are optimised for POWERED flight. Everything in the design works towards keeping the rotors powered, so that a powered landing can be made safely, including the (theoretically) idiot-proof fuel system with all its warnings & different sized tanks [No implication in the "i" word]. The rotor system is optimised for this and, while it will auto, it's a low-inertia system, as has already been explained. It's another issue to put to bed, as it's completely impractical.
And the discussion about two pilots should be put to bed for a while - it wasn't very long ago that two pilots found themselves in the water and we've been operating single pilot Police Ops very safely, all over the UK, for many years. Not sure of total hours flown, but would suggest something in the region of 25,000 per year for at least 15 years, plus a good bit before that - say 0.5m hours (back of a plain fag-packet calc. only). Not totally without incident/accident but, as with all aviation, there are risks identified and managed, or they wouldn't be able to get insurance.
Last edited by zorab64; 11th Dec 2013 at 08:35.
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