From Gullibell
Yep. Which is why I said that ditching an S76 with both AP turned off would be a tricky manoeuvre. It flies without AP perfectly well, but it can get wobbly close to the surface below translation or in the hover. I see pilots take-off with the AP's turned off all the time, I don't recall anybody losing control in wobbly mode. I've never seen anybody attempt a ditching in wobbly mode, and I haven't tried it myself either. I think safe to assume in the Bristow instance the AP were on during the ditching manoeuvre. Hopefully the AP were turned off at some stage when they were diagnosing an AFCS malfunction.
The AP / AFCS didn't "fail". It was a relatively small anomaly. The decision to ditch a serviceable helicopter is therefore very puzzling when it flies perfectly well AP out with a little extra concentration.
The aircraft is a total loss, this counts as an accident for Bristow. 2 in 6 months. Their clients will be asking difficult questions.