VRS Practice/Demonstration  

In a thread below about VRS, there seems to be some confusion about the effects of a tailwind versus a headwind when practicing VRS recognition/recovery. Some pilot/instructors I've flown with like to start the demonstration into the wind. But in that case, when you're in a hover, your downwash is being blown behind you, which makes it difficult to descend into the column of air being produced by your rotor, especially if you're moving forwad even slightly. Thus, it's harder (if not impossible) to get the ship into true VRS with a headwind. Very steep, very slow approaches are perfectly(?) safe if they're performed into the wind. As long as there is some lateral movement of air through the disk, you're good. (SWP at the bottom though? That's another story.)

If you start your VRS demonstration downwind, then your downwash will be blown along with you as you descend on your theoretical messed-up approach (isn't that what we're really practicing here?). Now it's easy to get into VRS! Anybody who has gotten a helicopter into actual, full-blown VRS knows what a wild ride it can be. And now we've had two helicopters (that R-44 and this EMS ship) that have both - apparently - come to grief while practicing VRS maneuvers. Maybe it's time we stop it?