Incident Details
After landing an EMS helicopter on a rooftop helipad, the pilot was informed that the hospital's elevator was inoperative and the stairway could not accommodate an incubator. Following takeoff, a loss of engine power occurred, and the pilot initiated an autorotation. Below the helicopter was a full parking lot, a street, and trees. The pilot flared the helicopter over the trees and recalled lowering the collective pitch and applying forward cyclic in an attempt to regain rotor RPM and airspeed.
Landing and Damage
The helicopter touched down in an uneven field and skidded about 30 yards before coming to rest. Damage occurred to the horizontal stabilizer winglets, main rotor blades, rear landing gear crosstube, and the tailrotor driveshaft cover.
Cause
The company reported a 'low side governor failure' as the cause of the power loss.