Whatever, I’ll tell the tale.
Ft. Pickett training det tasked with troop movement across the Appalachians to Elkins, WV.
Number of pax dictate 2 birds - one goes down in the chocks, det OIC says “take seats out of good bird and go” which ehhhh you could make a NATOPS argument if this wasn’t training...
Weather at Elkins calls for 700-1, with airmet sierra and zulu with mountain obscuration blanketing the area. HAC decides to press, thinking weather can’t be that bad, cause it’s clear and a million at the field...
No flight plan filed, no flight following - just VNAV and pilotage over the mountains to Elkins.
<insert shenanigans about maybe being over max GW on takeoff here>
post departure is uneventful, ceilings and vis come down per forecast as bird approaches mountains. They end up flying with a VFR section in the mountains at 400’ AGL (or less...) and 70 kias (or less...) to stay clear of clouds. Can’t reach ATC cause mountains.
HAC is hawking torque, super worried about icing, cause it’s below freezing and they’re in wispies. Makes decision to climb through clouds. (Blade de-ice is inop)
HAC at controls, increases power to climb. Goes IMC. Fixates on VSI, sees it decreasing, pulls more collective. Doesn’t notice increasing nose down attitude or increasing airspeed. Thinks they have icing, pulls more collective, sees trees in windscreen, yanks back on cyclic, and by the grace of god matches fuselage to terrain.
Bird comes to rest in several feet of snow. Everyone survives, but 2P is trapped in seat. Several pax & crew sustain soft tissue injuries (ligament tears, etc). No one is wearing cold weather gear. Survival radios don’t work, cell phones don’t work - turns out they crashed close to a secret squirrel mountain base.
WV ANG dispatches helos for SAR a few hours later and finds crash site - but icing forces them to depart after marking on top.
approx 24 hours after crash, rescue crews arrive on snowmobiles and extract everyone (cutting 2P out of bird)