The recent Kobe Bryant accident in low-visibility conditions and the many others like it always elicit comments similar to, “What is a helicopter doing flying in IFR weather like that?” The short answer is because they can. Flippant, but true. By and large, fixed-wing aircraft are stable platforms. Trim them up, release the controls, and they tend to stay in whichever attitude they’ve been placed. If momentarily forced into another attitude, most will return closely to the original placement.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/uncategorized/guest-blog-why-helicopters-get-away-with-running-scud