Original Message

I am puzzled by some of you guys who are fixated on groundspeed.  As someone else pointed out, groundspeed has nothing to do with VRS.  The *only* thing that matters is the aircraft's position relative to its downwash.  The helicopter can be stationary, like in an OGE hover, and the downwash can get moved by the wind.  Or, the helicopter can be moving, and its downwash will move in the opposite direction. Either way, you won't get re-ingestion/recirculation.

To get recirculation, the helicopter must be right "over" its own downwash.  As I pointed out, this can happen on a slow, steep, downwind appoach, where the tailwind keeps the downwash right under the rotor. Is this really so hard to visualize?