Chuck, you ain't illiterate at all. Haven't you heard.........when you get old, you get stupid. We have Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany to thank for that. He's the one that dreamed up the idea that at 65 everyone should retire. The reason for that age was apparently that the numbers that lived to or past that age were few in number.
About pilots, I always fall back on what my grandad said many years ago and the longer I was in the business the more sense it made to me. He felt that large airline pilots were a "different breed of horse altogether" in that they were closer to "normal". Pilots that flew in the bush, both fixed wing and helicopter, were used to being on their own, relying on their own brains and abilities to save their "butts" on almost a daily basis. There would also be many times when if they were to crash and remain conscious, they might lay there for days before assistance came. They got to know inlets, bays and trees almost on a first-name basis. They would know that in bad weather all they had to do was fly down that creek, find that real weird looking tree on that odd shaped bend in the creek and about 500 yds farther was the end of the landing strip, safety, warmth, a meal and a shot of the "good stuff". The very nature of this "beast" means that he won't lead, follow or be pushed into any decision without thinking about it long and hard..........because in his world if one moves or decides too quickly, it can be one's last move. So he will proably rely on that weird looking tree that he knows about rather than someone telling 270 degrees in that direction for 5 minutes gets you to the end of the strip.
Granted, that comes from the days of Sarah Beacons, Radio Range and R1340's, but I think it still applies in this day of GPS, SARSAT and bleed air heaters. We've all still had those moments when we had to rely on the same instincts as the pilots that have since grown old and fat or went to the "big hangar in the sky".
The association will get done, but first a whole bunch of pilots have to fly over or around that landing spot a bunch of times and check it closely before they commit to landing there. They've been fooled too often or fooled themselves too often and they ain't takin' any chances. I once read that the difference between a fixed wing pilot and a helicopter pilot was this: when the fixed wing driver takes off, he sees no reason why he won't get to his destination and on time. The helicopter pilot has full intentions of doing the same, but he's been screwed by the aircraft, weather or such too many times and he ain't 100% sure he'll get there without something going wrong.........so he always got a plan B.....just in case.
