williamjkambic wrote:
"Dave" wrote in message
...
IIRC, There was a specific non-combat maneuver which, when
removed from the
pilot's repertoire, cut the accident rate in half, for
both models. It was
called, among other names, "bow to the crowd". It was done
in a hover, and
was a tip the nose down and return maneuver that
accentuated some instability
in the hover, and caused several crashes over the years.

Seems to me there was also a problem with "weathervaning"
under certain wind conditions that caused instability and
loss of control.

I've seen a couple of mishap videos where "airshow" type
manuevers caused losses.

The problem is/was it is a horribly delicate piece of machinery to take
out to dangerous conditions, let alone war.

Evidently, after a large fraction of the fleet was scrap, people started
realizing that it wasn't all pilot error, and so design, maintenance, &
training were improved to the point that it is a reasonable craft.
Unlike the FBW craft, where it was realized that the weak point was the
wetware behind the stick, restraints weren't never put in place to keep
the inherently unstable vehicle within its operational envelope under
emotionally charged situations. Imagine an F-117 without computer
control...

Dan