Incident Overview
A helicopter carrying three occupants landed on a low trailer approximately 8 inches high at a private residence. The helicopter was flown by a pilot occupying the front right seat. The front left seat was occupied by another pilot, and a pilot-rated passenger sat in the right rear seat.
Sequence of Events
After landing, the front right pilot and the rear passenger exited the helicopter. The left seat pilot remained at the controls, intending to fly the helicopter to another location once the other occupants had cleared the area. According to the left seat pilot, the rear passenger exited from the right rear side of the helicopter. As the passenger approached the two-thirty position relative to the helicopter, the pilot observed him falling forward. The passenger fell to the ground and did not move.
Post-Incident Actions
The left seat pilot then shut down the engine and applied the rotor brake. The passenger was found to have sustained fatal injuries from being struck by the main rotor blade.
Passenger Background
The fatally injured passenger was a helicopter pilot. His family reported he had been flying airplanes since the 1960s and had been a helicopter pilot since 1988.