BasTon and SAS,
If, during forward flight the engine(s) stops, my experience has been that we react only after the NR has decayed. The ONLY way to get it back is to flare. Lowering the lever in any helicopter will not bring the NR back,
Of course eventually the lever has to be lowered otherwise autorotative state will never be achieved.
I agree with you both. One size never fits all. However my post is about recovering lost NR, which lets be honest, is the most likely scenario in ANY total power loss event. If in the hover, in certain types, there is not a lot of hope. In others, as I explained in our 500 foot 206 throttle chop exercise, they fare much better.
However, training is about forming good habits, that will serve you well, when tired, things have gone wrong and you need a friend. This is the core relevance of Peters "Cyclic Back" approach and just maybe a feature in this accident.
NR responds to disc loading and that is what the cyclic flare does.
For the poster advocating the maintainable of "Attitude" .....well in effect that is a mild flare as the nose tries to drop. However, tired, in the dark, un expecting, it is likely you will need more than that. There is real value in Peters post and its about habit, once the power loss is recognised.
In a modern helicopter stinking along at 145 KIAS, very little speed needs to be traded for a significant gain in NR, this is utterly basic stuff BUT experience, time and time again shows that pilots simply do not react thus way. They know it, but they respond too late because it is not fully instinctive.
In the hover, I think we all adopt a more attentive attitude to a possible power loss. Especially at height. In Police Operations in UK this is substantially mitigated by the presence of the second engine. However, should we lose both engines in the hover our response has to be instantaneous as we do not have the most powerful tool for recovering our NR........AIRSPEED. Of course in the hover the lever has to dumped...fully....and completely....to the floor plate or its ENDEX. From this point onwards, lever fully down, it's a lottery based on remaining NR, height and control, and of course the characteristics of the individual type.
I think Peters post adds value to this subject more than most poster are inclined to believe. Airspeed is the most powerful energy store we may, or may not have at the point the engine(s) fail. The less we have, and the more decayed the rotor, the slimmer our chances of recovery. It's as simple as that.
DB