I've heard that now from multiple people and then the safety alerts that got sent out to us about bird strike mitigation along with the aerial shots, adsb data etc are all point towards hitting multiple geese. From there its just an order what failed in what order, none of it really matters sadly. Options are...
1. Birds came through rotor system causing damage to mast/pitch links/blades that caused the damage leading to rotorhead separation
2. Birds through cockpit causing pilots arm to pull back on stick and then forward leading to a mast bump, more than likely involuntary movements by pilot at the point
3. Pilot actually saw the birds in last moment and attempted a pushover causing mast bump but still hit the birds anyway so result would have been the same just the wreckage may have looked different.
These were Van Horn composite blades so if they find parts of blades further back from the two known main parts of the wreckage which are the fuseluge and then about 300' the rotor head then we might figure more towards losing parts of the blades on initial impact with the birds. Either way hitting even 1 goose at speed can be catastrophic, hitting a flock is terrifying. As I explain to my non aviation friends, picture the heaviest 12-14 pound bowling ball, pick it up and fire it at 115 mph at your head or aircraft and in these case maybe 5 at the same time.
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