| I would never want to second guess the AAIB cos they got some very clever guys working for them, and on this occasion I was fairly certain right from the start the cause was going to be more or less what the AAIB have concluded.
The Robinson series can be very unforgiving if mishandled, more so than many other helicopters. Furthermore Steve was himself relatively inexperienced particularly in the R44. Most of his flying had been on other types.
From what various chopper pilots have told me, "G" forces combined with mishandling of the rotor (RPM) can result in a boom strike, which is more or less what the AAIB say happened to Steve.
Flying into cloud can be very disconcerting, probably more so when low as Steve was on this occasion. The instinctive reaction would be to push the control column forward to "dive" out of the cloud. This can result in a fair bit of negative G which combined with the low rotor speed would cause the rotors to strike the tail boom. (A full techincal description can be found at the link above)
If any of you want to experience just how disorientating the above can be, you are welcome to join me and I will demonstrate it for you. Trust me, if you are not trained for this it can be very very frightening, and all the more so when you can't see which way is up.
Sadly, on this occasion it is my belief, and that of others more qualified to somment, that pilot error caused the crash and took a great talent from us.
[Edited on 22-5-2005 by yeti]  |