Accident Scenario
According to the student pilot, the helicopter was hovered to the parking pad and landed with the nose pointing north. The skid placement was incorrect, leading the instructor to direct a repositioning of approximately 3 feet to the left. The student brought the helicopter back to a hover and moved it 3 feet left. Before the student could initiate a descent and land, the helicopter encountered a tailwind gust. This caused the nose to pitch down and rotor rpm to decrease, and the helicopter traveled forward about 75 feet. The skids made hard contact with the ground, and the helicopter came to an abrupt upright stop facing downslope. The main rotor blades struck the tail rotor drive shaft and tailboom, resulting in separation of the tail rotor gear box and tail rotor from the helicopter.
Meteorological Conditions
The airport's Meteorological Aerodrome Report around the time of the accident reported wind from 180° at 15 knots with a broken cloud layer at 800 feet. Approximately 30 minutes prior, the prevailing wind was from 170° at 13 knots, and one hour prior, from 160° at 9 knots.
Damage Assessment
The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the tail rotor drive system, the tailboom, and the main rotor blades. The pilot reported no mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.