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