What happened
On April 28, 2019, an Aerospatiale AS350, registration N288CH, was performing a second landing on a ridge/saddle near Juneau, Alaska, to drop off passengers for recreational skiing. During the maneuver, the helicopter's tail rotor made contact with a higher section of the snow-covered terrain.
The aircraft sustained substantial damage to the tail boom and the mounting surface for the tail rotor gearbox. There were no injuries resulting from the incident. The weather at the time was reported as VMC with a visibility of 10 statute miles and winds from 250 degrees at 06 knots.
The investigation
The pilot reported that there were no mechanical failures or malfunctions present in the helicopter prior to the accident that would have prevented normal operation.