2012 1:1's

Ha, that would be kinda hard on the eye balls! No, we just buried a GoPro in the rocks. We would like to get a landing, but need to figure out how to not end up with a skid coming down on the lens....

A sad but non tragic incident occured today with one of the local firefighting helicopters, some sort of engine problem caused a loss of main engine power and sent the machine into a full auto rotation in un-even, wooded terrain. The pilot escaped with little to no injury and is doing well. The helicopter sustained major damage and remains at the crash scene. News story...

http://www.kdrv.com/pilot-not-injured-after-engine-failure

That's not the helicopter that you helped with the engine swap is it?

Yes, it was the one from here in GP. The new motor was a pull out from another helicopter that had low hours on it, I don't know how many hours were put on it since it was installed here, but at least 20 I would guess. From the chit chat I hear it sounds like a fuel pump may have gone out and simply stopped sending fuel to the engine. But will find out more later, a NTSB report will be filed eventually.

Sorry to hear that.  From the photo on that news website I'm guessing the airframe is a total loss.

A large 8" diameter Manzanita stem stabbed through the bottom and came out inside the cabin, had this been 4 feet forward the pilot would be in a much different situation. The main blades wadded up into a pretzel and the tail rotor blades are still missing. They could be very far away if they came off in an upward arc.

We found the super light DJI propeller halves 180 feet from the point of failure so I can imaging how far real helicopter blades could fly.  That could have been bad for the pilot also.  Had they shot forward I'm sure they would be able to cut through a helicopter airframe like butter.