John and Nick: just for another red herring -

Do you think the 76C+ is capable of a zero-speed landing to the deck from a double engine failure? While practising the steep approach profile necessary for Cat A elevated heliport procedures I often wondered if you could manage it without any power input at all. Never dared to try though, and the sim was definitely not the place to do it.

I seem to recall doing touchdown autos during the BV234 type conversion with Boeing TP Dick Balzer at Prestwick. The flare started at 600' and you needed a loooong runway. What you did NOT need was collective, the whole thing was done on attitude and resembled a space shuttle landing; the flat underbody provided a real aircushion near the surface. Dick was so laid back he used to stick his snakeskin boots up on the coaming and tell you to get on with it... And yes Nick, the ECLs were fully retarded and I think the APU was started. Do Chinook pilots still do autos to the deck?