Incident Description
A helicopter landed at a scene to pick up a patient. The pilot kept the helicopter operating while medical crew attended to the patient. After loading, a paramedic performed a walk-around inspection, entered the helicopter, and called out the before-takeoff checklist. The paramedic alerted the pilot about overhanging trees on the port side. The pilot acknowledged and stated his intention to lift into a hover, slide to the right, and perform a left pedal turn to exit westward.
While performing the left pedal turn at a hover, a vibration occurred throughout the airframe. The pilot immediately set the helicopter back on the ground, facing west.
An EMS technician who observed from the ground reported that after the patient was loaded, the helicopter lifted into a hover of about 3 feet, then rotated to face the wind from the west. After completing the rotation, the helicopter began to increase altitude. As altitude increased, the tail rotor struck a small pine tree limb that protruded 1 to 2 feet into and over the westbound traffic lane closest to the median. The technician heard a change in engine pitch and observed the tail rotor begin to "wobble." At that point, the helicopter was about 6 to 8 feet off the ground. The technician believed the pilot sensed something wrong and set the helicopter down firmly on the curbside lane, facing west.
Examination Results
An examination revealed no evidence of a preaccident mechanical failure or malfunction of the helicopter or any of its systems.