I am no expert but I am amazed at some of the most obvious cause and
effect completely ignored by every comment so far.
First thought: This pilot had no collective obviously apparent.
Second: ETL is present even in a helicopter with flat pitch, especially
in this open water situation, not counting any forward velocity of the
ship itself
Third: Yes a whole bunch of full size helicopters technically have some
negative pitch, collective down on twisted blades typically have
negative pitch at the tips.

A casual observer might see a pitching deck, a gusting wind, less than
full load and a pilot not certain if the helicopter is fully released
for departure. Its just a thought but the pilot may not have lifted off
intentionally. In fact No professional pilot would have committed a
deliberate departure not knowing the status of the crewman that just ran
to the rear of the helicopter to perform a task.




"Nick" wrote in message
...
Negative collective? .....ROTFLMFAO! Boy I dont think I have that
option on mine.

What is the pitch range on this helicopter?......anyone?......I 'fly'
RC, but it'd be interesting to know that negative pitch as not
possible.....does that go for all full size helis?

So the fact that the machine appeared light on its skids could not
have been corrected?....or minimised?


"B4RT" wrote in message
...

"Nick" wrote in message
...
Thought you guys might be interested

http://www.videosift.com/video/Helic...s-A-Close-Call

But why wouldn't he have kept some negative collective to keep it
nailed to the deck?.... how far would the tips 'dished'
down?.....not enough to cause the crew more worries than they
already had??

It seemed very light on the skids on the previous couple of swells??


Negative collective? .....ROTFLMFAO! Boy I dont think I have that
option on mine.

My armchair analysis is that the helicopter appeared to have a
forward CG and the deck was pitching as much as 15 degrees and
rolling about 7 or 8. I don't think the pilot really ever "wanted" to
take off. It looked to me like the deck pitched forward a whole lot
and he thought the helicopter would nose over if he didn't take off.
The deck angle was pitched very far forward at the moment of the tail
strike, and the camera gives the illusion that the helicopter was at
far less level pitch that it was.

I'm thinking that the pilot was taking the lesser of two evils and
got bit by one of them. Its clear to me that he was pretty skilled
because doing a totally successful hovering auto to that platform
like that couldn't be done by an unskilled pilot. The only bad
piloting in this incident appears to have happened way before the
engine started when someone decided that it was ok to take off in
seas like that.

Bart