My thoughts go to the crew and I wish them a speedy recovery.
This is what I see in the video: An OGE hover at about 500ft AGL. An event that caused the aircraft to rotate approximately 45 degrees to the right. A rapid onset of vertical descent with a reversal of direction of rotation. Right hand rotation recommencing just prior to impact.
I don't think it was VRS as there was no RoD prior to the event. The rotation could conceivably have come from the fishtail effect of an engine failure but I would have expected to see a rapid nose down input from the pilot as it should be easily possible to fly out OEI from that height even at Kenyan temperatures and the RoD builds too quickly for OEI (unless the lever was down for some reason) It could conceivably have been a simultaneous double engine failure but, honestly, they only ever happen in the simulator these days. That amount of yaw, in that direction, would have led the pilots to suspect a tail drive shaft failure. My best guess here is that there was an uncommanded yaw to the right (possibly caused by a failure of tail rotor drive) that led the pilot to enter autorotation and attemp a near vertical auto from 500ft. The recommencement of rotation prior to impact probably indicates that the engines were not shut down. A difficult one to call!!
Last edited by Max Contingency; 9th Sep 2016 at 04:40.