A: I'm pretty much clueless about helicopters, other than being a passenger a few times. B: One news reporter who is probably as clueless as I am, has already called this pilot error, he was descending to fast to fill the bucket. Is there any way to predict Vortex Ring State, or is it like Ground Resonance that just sneaks up on you?

Dale Moul wrote:A: I'm pretty much clueless about helicopters, other than being a passenger a few times. B: One news reporter who is probably as clueless as I am, has already called this pilot error, he was descending to fast to fill the bucket. Is there any way to predict Vortex Ring State, or is it like Ground Resonance that just sneaks up on you?

Below 30kts TAS maintain approximately 0fpm. Be careful of a sneaky tailwind. Practice currency during flight reviews.

AI Overview
To preclude a vortex ring state (VRS), avoid steep, high-rate descents at low airspeeds, especially in tailwinds, by maintaining forward or sideways motion, descending with caution, and ensuring adequate airspeed. If VRS occurs, the pilot should reduce collective, apply forward cyclic to gain forward airspeed, or move sideways to exit the disturbed air, acknowledging that a significant loss of altitude will occur during recovery.

That wasn’t vortex ring state. He just did a dozen things wrong until he shredded the tail in the water.

I’ve been in vortex ring, with a bucket on the end of a long line. You could feel it onset and then you would transition back out. No biggie. Same flying a medium with a belly tank and snorkel, which puts you a lot closer to the water, doing 20-25 drops an hour all day.

It’s a crutch excuse for poor training or airmanship, mostly.

Karmutzen wrote:That wasn’t vortex ring state. He just did a dozen things wrong until he shredded the tail in the water.

I’ve been in vortex ring, with a bucket on the end of a long line. You could feel it onset and then you would transition back out. No biggie. Same flying a medium with a belly tank and snorkel, which puts you a lot closer to the water, doing 20-25 drops an hour all day.

It’s a crutch excuse for poor training or airmanship, mostly.

Thank you Karmutzen for participating in our thread. Glad to see you onboard. I most definitely agree (now) that the pilot lost SA (Situational Awareness) — flew the ship into the water. Agree also, the term Vortex Ring State maybe used a bit too freely sometimes when there is a “pancake” or other embarrassing contact with the terrain.

I personally have entered and exited VRS (Settling With Power) only for training purposes.

From a brief video analysis my personal opinion is: PIC lost fundamental control not VRS