You train to fight smart not fockngnstupid. I’ll walk through the pass, see you on the other side, maybe. USMC 84-88.

Helicrazi, good points, an Japanese car and a MAMIL. Both out in fog. What were they thinking.

Clockwork Mouse. With 17k in my logbook and not so much as a scratch of paint, HEMS, MIL, POLICE, HOFO I feel very comfortable that my inner “Traffic Warden” has served me well.

SAS I was also in Sunburgh on the S61 as P2 at the tail end of the Decca ERA. No ILS and a ARA /Decca procedure into the bay onto the end of r/w 27. MDH was “waves visible” and DR when we saw the lights. No other options as the wx changed quickly and the poor old girl had no fuel for anywhere else. This was safe because we were over the sea until the end of the r/w. Protected by the black and white storm scope with the dodgy NDB for backup/confirmation. And we have flown that route so many times we could do it in our sleep.

i would take that any day over an unforced error that sees me hover taxing in fog over unknown terrain in circumstances where an ASDA HGV might become an obstacle or the bloody wires loom out of the gloom to tear my helicopter apart.

CRAB I do not need to add any eggs to the pudding. There are hundreds of Rotorheads who have creamed themselves in CFIT. Some of which were doing oh so important tasks even your precious SAR.

I wonder if you would defend a pilot who chooses to fly along a public road at 10 feet in 8/8 VMC?

One thing has been achieved by this bit of flying - lots more of us know what the SAS use for their now somewhat less covert operations.

Don’t worry. I’m pretty sure that the aircraft will now be a very different colour to how it appeared in the video. And there are plenty of other Dauphins around.

Diginagain. You need to read the report! And like a Pri*k you miss the point I was making. That’s the basic problem with Pprune. Failure to read the whole post and comprehend the points being made.

I've read the report, thanks. As it happens my witness statement is part of the Police Scotland investigation report.
Have you managed to determine how many BAOR-based Army helicopters have been lost due to poor weather yet?

BTW, 'Sooty's' supervisory-chain should have chopped his legs off long before he had a hand in writing-off '321, and techically BATUS is in Canada.

Incorrect! Absolute disregard for the rules that govern military flying. Nowhere does it state that flying in fog is legal, REGARDLESS of the reasons. If encountering poor weather, ‘slow down, go down, turn around or land!’ No exceptions!

I have 2,500 military flying hrs of which approx half are operational both in NI and further afield working with similar units. NEVER have we had to or been coerced into doing something similar. The rules are clear.

An ex-colleague of mine received a bravery award for hover taxing in fog up a mountain to rescue a casualty. Having recovered the casualty into the aircraft from the low hover, it was decided the only way to get back down again was to descend on a reciprocal track in reverse (as in tail first, so the pilot could maintain visual reference on the mountain.
It was in the dark, too, btw.

No "hat on, no coffee" interview on that occasion.
It's a fine line to tread, but there you are.

Heights Good - Late to the party but thank God for your voice of Common Sense!

Shy - Bravery and planned flying.......not a good mix. I prefer a sensible dose of cowardice in my planning.

Treadigraph, the answer you seek is probably a secret!

Mighty gem, you just miss the whole point. Pilots operating recklessly and/or beyond the obvious and documented limits have been creaming themselves and their pax in with tedious regularity.

in this case we have a helicopter, flying at low level in fog along a public road. That is not acceptable under any circumstances and NO ONE can ever be authorised to train in such conditions. If you are ex AAC authorising officer you would know this.

This thread should be a general vilification of a truly poor act of airmanship. Instead we have desire, ego and risky shift all collaborating together to try and convince sensible compliant pilots that such supremely stupid acts are really necessary to keep us safe in our beds. It’s lamentable and in the words of John Cleese, exactly how Hitler started!

Recently we had a SAR machine fly straight into a rock in the open ocean. And yet so many posters claiming that such risks are acceptable in SAR or indeed HEMS. They are not acceptable. The Commander is neither authorised or trained to operate beyond the limits.

several posters also completely misunderstand the rules believing ANYTHING goes if you are saving lives. This is also not true. This rule is applicable during an Emergency Situation relating to the aircraft operation and not the task in hand.

Its actually not that difficult to get right. Fly compliant and if you want to apply your own personal limits then make them greater FFS and give yourself a margin for error.

It sickens and disappoints me that when any attempt is made to suggest compliance or caution on Rotorheads is so often met by the wannabe hero’s pulling on the other end of the rope. If they have truly been there and really done that they would know how dangerous these actions can be and how so much ends up down to luck than skills or judgement.

As a member of the public first, an ex military pilot second and a professional helicopter pilot third, I want an explanation as to why the cream of the British Army is wazzing along a public road in fog. Only by demanding such answers will the truth come out and progress get made. Thankfully on this occasion no lives were lost. Luck, more than any other factor in play whem so low in fog.

No. Just a Mk1 eyball

1km, clear of cloud and in sight of the surface. No exceptions.

In addition, week 1 of helicopter flying - “If the weather deteriorates we will go down, slow down, turn around and finally land” there is no hover-taxi until we can clear the inconvenient weather. This is how people have died. The JHC FOB and MAA are crystal clear on the rules, of which DSF have to abide.

There are no new lessons in aviation, just new people learning old lessons....

Crab Sir,. I think the boot is on the other foot. I am not clutching at straws. I have safely tied down on the moral high ground....which is...THOU SHOULD NOT FLY IN FOG CLOSE TO THE SURFACE in open flight. Meanwhile you pull every excuse you can find:

they are training....no this is not allowed
they are saving us from evil.......errr in the Lake District. Maybe terrorist sheep?
they have been caught out......agreed however they are flying over high ground so more of a deliberate act.
they are hero’s and we cannot question them.....no the boys in the back deserve better.
there are no limits when flying in hero jobs.......err yes there are.
pilots can be authorised to do this.......no they can’t.
They are very experienced......come on! We know that to be highly unlikely in today’s budget constraints.

In the beginning, someone told me pilots get born with 2 buckets. One is called EXPERIENCE and of course is empty. The other is called LUCK and is full. The objective is to fill the Experience bucket before you empty the Luck bucket. What is then this thing we call Experience. After 34 years and 17k I conclude thus....Experience is a series of unfortunate events that if you are lucky, you survive and if you are wise, you learn from. As such, an Experienced pilot has learned to avoid situations where the “Unfortunate Events” may occur. Like risking everything taxiing in fog up or down a hillside. And thus, I believe when we witness such events from afar, it is far more likely that the persons involved are still working on their Experience bucket.

Crab I admire your loyalty especially seeing as you were in the Brill Cream brigade and not the Army. However, blind faith has been proven to be flawed. What we see here is not the SF doing there thing but them being transported to do their thing. Like I said, remember the Falklands.