Event Details
During cruise flight at approximately 500 feet above ground level and 120 miles per hour, the pilot looked down to scan the helicopter's instruments. As he began to look up, a large buzzard collided with the right windscreen and struck the pilot's face. The impact and the wind entering through the broken windscreen temporarily blinded the pilot. The pilot reported feeling the helicopter pitch up as he attempted to regain control, and blood began to hinder his vision.
Unable to see clearly, the pilot opted to perform a running landing into a bean field directly in the flight path. During the descent, he was forced to use both hands on the controls and could not clear his vision. Losing sight of the ground, the helicopter touched down on the aft portion of the left landing skid, rolled over, and came to rest on its left side in a soybean field.
Pilot Background
The pilot held an air transport pilot certificate and had accumulated 13,355 total flight hours. He had approximately 1,900 hours in the same make and model of helicopter, with about 120 hours flown in the 90 days preceding the accident.