Original Message

you are showing your ignorance. i have 7 years of crane flying for the big orange.  There was a rash of tip cap strikes and all of them were due to pilot error.  Erickson has specific procedures for approaches over water and if flown according to them,"it is not easy to do"

it is a very expensive error as it is considered a sudden stoppage and everything connected to the tailrotor needs to be removed and inspected.

It was a fireable offense for not only the captain but the copilot as well.  The are dead serious about this and until this one, there have been none.  If you strike the tailrotor you should be fired.  There is absolutley no excuse.