Here's the brief of accident:

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/GenPDF.asp?...04LA212&rpt=fi

His insurance is going to skyrocket!

Hmm, the NTSB report seems good, but I still don't buy all of it. I've been looking at the blades departing the aircraft, and they seem to break, and then be flung into the door, not striking the door directly. You'd think the pilot with over 5,000 hours of time would double-check his distance to the door before taking off, especially that close. Closer look at the blades showed me that where they broke dosent seem to coorespond with the door impact...:hmm:

Wow! An open hanger extending out towards the ramp? Well, that is what happened i guess. Nice.

-S

Interesting how the pilot claims that the passenger bumped the control causing the helicopter to drift towards the hanger yet I saw no drift and neither did the NTSB.

This pilot had no time to realize he had a problem let alone correct it. By the time he realized he had a problem, he was already on the ground wondering which way he was looking and what just happened :doh:. I don't believe any pilot is as fast as he claimed to be. He and his crew just needed to more careful and this would not have happened.

Also, the damage to the door was minor compared to what it would have looked like if any blade broke off prior to hitting the door. Looks like the door was scraped by the blades. This of course would cause the energy in the blades to be displaced and forcing the tail to hit the ground 1st (I believe fatty was correct in quoting Newton) this would then cause any remaining blades (or all) to make contact with tail section shearing it off.

"God dang, son of a bitch!" Seems to some that up pretty good.:doh:

I do not believe the claim of passenger touching a control making the helicopter move to the right. Looks like blade failure to me.

Same here. See how far the cameraman had to run to get to the chopper? The R-44/22's blades aren't that long.

If a blade had failed, wouldn't the helicopter quickly rotate in the opposite direction of rotation to compensate for the release of energy as well as roll due to the sudden change in weight and lift? :hmm:

The Helicopter pitched back (not up) which is what I would expect it to do if the blade came in contact with something on the right side due to the sudden decrease in speed. It would have pitched down (forward) if it had hit on the left side.

My 2d worth: rotor hits hangar door and blade cuts off tail boom.Pilot blamed a passenger for the drift into the door.I saw a similar thing on an s-61 .Robinson do not have the world'd best safety record.If I was offered a flight in one I would decline.