Originally Posted by
rotorspeed
After a brief skim of the last few days of posts, I still don't think anyone has answered the question of how can UK night rig departures, away from light sources (and therefore visual reference) comply with the (presumable) intent of the "rules", ie no IMC flight below 50kts VMini, or whatever. Yes, we've had talk about it's not the same as onshore because the platform height means there's less risk, but that's not the point - which is, as far as I'm concerned, do the regulators think a helo can be safely controlled under VMini on instruments? Because that's what surely must be happening. Talk of the difference in meaning of IFR and IMC to me is just semantics - the real safety issue is as above.
Rotorspeed, I guess so, my last OPC, with a CAA examiner on the jumpseat doing a TRE reval, included that particular exercise, fully briefed on what it was simulating and the reasons for it.
He seemed to have no issue with it, and certainly didn't question why we were doing it.