Suffice to say, one of the contributors to this thread was in that cab. It's not 'normal' for them to end up like this. It's a bit embarrasing actually but they got seen by the great unwashed and now they are slightly twitched that it's 'in the public domain'.....let's say.

Oh and by the way - outside of the "IFR" (I follow roads) brigade - anywhere in the world - this is NOT to be recommended flying by anyone. It isn't sanctioned, it isn't practiced and it certainly isn't clever.

Let's just say - occasionally, just occasionally, one finds one's self up a creek without a paddle and one simply has to 'improvise'.

They are sorry and promise never to be caught doing it again.......

By the way - they also have the reg plate of the car that took the picture................:suspect:

:):):):):)

So Tc you are now saying the pilots took their hands off the controls to take a picture ?????

Despite all the bickering and criticism, I have repeatedly laid out the facts about this video and the circumstances that preceded it - actually I don't give a flying whatsit if PDR or others don't believe what I have written - it is the truth but it would appear an uncomfortable or inconvenient truth for those who were so openly critical of a crew just doing their job very professionally.

I have no need to make stuff up to defend these guys - the fact that they are ex-colleagues and students of mine is irrelevant but I'm sure that won't hold sway with the conspiracy theory types.

You can make your own minds up whether you think this was a total non-event that just happened to be caught on video or something much more dastardly - actually I don't care but when there is an opportunity to highlight the correct procedure when caught out by weather as opposed to the IIMC or CFIT versions then I will continue to do so - even if it turns out to be DB.

UK military aircraft are not subject to the 500 foot rule. If they were, how do you think they would practice low flying?

Who said the cab was Military?

What cab..........?

I would assume when they practice this dangerous art form of low level flying, they are doing it in rather sparsely settled areas where no one is at risk? or at least where only the odd farmer who is expendable may call home.

In Canada, Military aircraft can't just go scud running where ever they want under the guise of training flights. or any other higher level of authority simply because they are better trained or whatever. They still have to follow all the rules like john, steve and mike in their little personal helico-peters, to avoid running afoul of the laws that protect the citizen from the dangers of rampant cowboy flying. They do it in their designated airspaces on their military bases. Thank god Canada is so big with lots of unfettered landscape around.

ShyT
We can all practice low flying anyway... In the UK.

MY reading of this is completely different (of course !!).

For a start; I am amazed that this is regarded as something that should only be practiced 'by accident' - I would expect this to be part of their normal skill set, it's a perfectly 'normal' set of skills in many of the world's real environments...

To only attempt to do this, unpractised, in times of crisis, by inexperienced folk 'being heroic' is at best foolhardy.

I WANT 'our chaps' to be able to emerge from the merk, unexpected, in 'impossible conditions' at the front door of 'the baddies', and give them a bloody nose... when required.

I am pretty surprised that DB regards this as something of a luck issue - this can be done employing 'normal' higher level flying skills - they should be part of the armory of this kind of operator. It is irresponsible for this to NOT be part of their operating capability.

embarassing to be 'caught on camera' ... but t'will from time to time occur

I do hope these guys don't get a bolloxing... they need to be capable of this, I would be appauled if they were NOT doing this.

Thank goodness nobody on here ever knew what a 443 area was in Germany, they would never sleep again.

If you read all the media reports (good and bad) and piece together all the comments across social media platforms from people in the area who also saw it that day flying low into a bank of fog at Patterdale, it sounds like it may have crept the whole length of the pass like that from Ullswater to Windermere.

Cor!

Your point being?

Do you have the foggiest notion of what the unit orders were for that flight?

Did you include prior posts here at pprune during your analysis?

Especially a couple of posts by Crab who reported all was well for the crew involved as they complied with their procedures and policies that day.

That sure seemed to be the gist of what he posted.....he can correct me if I am wrong.

Some do...I've flown in 443'd areas many times, and still sleep just fine, thanks.

Harrogate - I have posted what actually happened - you can believe the BS in the press and social media, from people who have no idea about aviation in general and helicopters in particular, if you want but it is BS. People will swear black is white just to get a few likes on FB so I wouldn't put any store in such reports.

Analysis?

Calm down. I m mainly just looked at some social media posts. I work in marketing (which I know will make you sick in your mouth) and have access to various paid social media and content listening tools that I can, and do, use for my own amusement.

Other people saw the same chopper in different places nearby and there was also at least one other video shot further along the pass that was posted to a forum and then removed after about 3 days by the looks of it.

That is all. I'm not speculating about what their unit orders etc were. Speculation and analysis of anything and everything globally to do with helicopters is clearly more your thing. You seem to be the expert in most things, so I'll leave the analysis to you, Chuck Yeager.