Originally Posted by
Washeduprotorgypsy
Well the dustball at the end, highlights the "backlash rotor" quite nicely at the landing spot, no question as to the relative winds. Makes we wonder if the ol Coanda effect was a little disturbed by the windward upflow of the face.
Brain must have been screaming "mechanical" to miss the chance to dump into wind down the valley.
Many years ago I did my introduction to mountain flying in a Hughes269 in the on a hot breezy day in the Cascades.
The in instructor picked out several ridge lines for me to attempt a light on the skids landing. In each case, he asked me to set it up with an exit strategy in case we ran out of power or started to get LTE before we set the skids down. Wouldn't you know it, in the highest 3 attempts, we did get one or both! and we had to bail out down the mountain.
Perhaps he was not properly instructed, but I cant imagine any pilot with the mountain flying basics who wouldn't begin that approach with the expectation that he was at the limits of the aircraft and he may have to have to bail out over that ridgeline at the first sign of trouble.