My post for 11-11-11
The thing is, helicopters are different from planes. An airplane by it’s nature wants to fly, and if not interfered with too strongly by unusual events or by a deliberately incompetent pilot, it will fly. A helicopter does not want to fly. It is maintained in the air by a variety of forces and controls working in opposition to each other, and if there is any disturbance in this delicate balance the helicopter stops flying; immediately and disastrously. There is no such thing as a gliding helicopter.
This is why being a helicopter pilot is so different from being an airplane pilot, and why in generality, airplane pilots are open, clear-eyed, buoyant extroverts and helicopter pilots are brooding introspective anticipators of trouble. They know if something bad has not happened it is about to.
— Harry Reasoner, 1971
Fascinating. I wonder if it's true. It's logical, and certainly with a helicopter the standard for alertness seems to be higher. Take your foot off the pedals for a second (I believe that is controlled with pedals) and you're in trouble.
There is such a thing as auto-rotation - barring some catastrophic failure with the tail rotor assembly (rare). That leads me to suspect foul play in this particular case.
Prayers for the families of the deceased :(