They go up...down....spinning around....

[Mmmmnice]

I have no intention of starting off another discussion about 'what happened' if this has been done else where, but........having only had the luxury of operating twin pilot to a deck (in an a/c with AFCS etc etc) I cannot imagine why anyone would go heads-in for any length of time once the lashing are off? certainly not single-pilot with a 'floppy' stick (or would stick trim be used to keep the cyclic upright?) Maybe it's only 'cos I've had enough scares to make me stay eyes-out! Either way having AFCS would probably not have much bearing on the development of this incident anyway.

[John Eacott]

I cannot imagine why anyone would go heads-in for any length of time once the lashing are off?

A sad fact of life is that a lot of the civilian world doesn't have the benefit of either Mil standard training, nor the experience passed on by the 'old & bold', especially in the world of shipborne aviation.