Bird strike for all you arm chair monday morning quarterbacks out there.  

Seems plausible.

https://abc7ny.com/post/nyc-helicopter-crashed-hudson-river-killed-6-last-year-shows-signs-bird-strike-ntsb-says/19521379/

Bird Buckshot

for a long time

did not cause the tailboom to fail.  That tailboom had been compromised on the ground and the damage was either not noticed or not inspected.

the tail boom just happened to fail at the same time it flew into a flock of large birds

So I need you to focus your attention for 10seconds, just pretend Fox News is trying to sell you gold and shift your attention here. Ready? I know this is going to sound crazy, but did you know that birds come in different sizes? I know! It’s crazy! Maybe, now stick with me, MAYBE! Maybe places next to the ocean will have bigger birds, like fish-eating birds or ones?! Fùckin insane to imagine right? But I’m here to blow your little high school dropout mind, they’re real! Some are called pelicans and others acre called swans! That’s right! There are multiple species of large birds in the world! Swans and pelicans can have wingspans of 8ft and weigh upwards of 30lbs! 

Here’s a link to a book if you want to learn more. Sorry I couldn’t find any written for adults.

https://www.amazon.com/Swans-Incredible-Picture-Children-Nature/dp/B0CRB7D1N9a>

For those saying it would be a coincidence that the tail boom failed at the same time, you may be looking at it backwards. Instead of thinking the tail boom failed and that caused the accident, what if the tail boom failure was a secondary event?. What if, instead, the transmission seized and that caused a sudden stoppage, which then cause the tail boom to fail?  

If there was mast bumping or if there was a bird strike in the right place, It could cause a sudden stoppage of the transmission which would be consistent with the wreckage.

I am not saying I am correct, but it could be.

Maroon!!! Since when do Pelican's & Swans live in NYC out side of the zoo you moron!! Just STFU & Stop proving what an Idiot you truly are besides you name!!

in the ne bro

Yeah what does that mean and what is your source. You guys on this forum are such morons.

any of us that have been in this industry long enough and had a bird strike know what "signs" look like you Tard..maybe the windshield was penetrated and feathers/dead birds found in the cockpit or cabin area....so tell me smarty how you define it in your wisdom

birds. you're welcome

 One on an S76C that put big hole in M/R Damper Reservoir, Pi$$ed out all the 5606. Didn't know till landed & saw all the Hyd. on Eng.  T/B cowling. Night Flt Never saw it.

Do some of you really believe that birds only strike the windshield? 

I have come home with bird strikes on the rotor head, engine cowlings, and just about every surface that can be hit as the aircraft is moving forward. I even had a seagull fly into my rotor blades as I was in a hover. 

Many times, the only indication of a bird strike is a small stain or a small stain with a big dent after hitting a large bird. 

Sometimes I read these forums and find it hard to believe that these are actually seasoned pilots posting.

Just as the post a couple of lines above stated, if you fly long enough, you'll hear thuds on your a/c all over the place. (Midwest region) Land, see what you hit, report to the D.O.O your opinion, fly it home (if airworthy) & have maintenance go over.  Ive had plenty of them.

land and give the doo your opinion. that’s how it works. lol

Yeah, let the DOO make the determination if it airworthy?? If that DOO is smart, he is going to put you on hold, and the next voice you hear is going to be someone on the decision level in the maintenance department. 

I call BS. Transmission deck removal prior to impact.  

I hit a turkey buzzard In California in a Bell 206L3, mid blade at the 2:00 position, advancing blade at 120 knots. Huge mess as the bird or parts splattered  all over the right aft area  of the helicopter.

 A buzzard is a big heavy bird that did no damage to the helicopter.

I’m very skeptical that a bird strike or even multiple birds caused a tail boom separation at the attachment point.

And it must have been some awfully brittle metal to make such a clean break with no evidence of folding or tearing at the shear point.. 

At the big P is wiring up Tail booms in light ship.  I did that for a few weeks my first month or two at the job in 2000.  If you don't manage to Fk that up too bad, you get to work on other things.  You'd be surprised how thin walled those Booms are.  I didn't really think about it that much at the time.  I just ran my new harness from point A to B, and terminated as needed.  Most of the booms in the bay , a bay dedicated for wiring and assembly completion, They had come off of birds that had 10k hours for overhaul, repair strip and repaint.  Big P got out of the refurb business tho shortly after this one was built.  2005, They were phasing out the 206's slowly, this one was probably the last one originally purchased before they sold it to Meridian some time after we ditched all the contracts for shelf work. 

Real good chance I did work on that bird.  Probably installed pulse lights or something of that sort.

Boy oh boy there are some genius level know-it-alls in here. Bird strike is plausible, the tailboom may have failed due to abrupt control movements. Maybe only god will know for sure. 

However, all the fools in here screeching “muh seized tranny! Ripped da roofs off!” Clearly have no understanding of rotor dynamics in upset events. The outright loss of the tailboom, and the resultant upset of the main rotor system, would almost certainly have torn the airframe apart just the way you saw in the video. 

Of course there was mast bumping! It’s almost certain to occur in a rotor upset like this. But it is a result, not a cause. 

I hope none of the geniuses in here are IP’s, goodness only knows what foolishness you’d teach the new and unsuspecting. 

if you fly into a flock of birds and the tailboom falls off your dead. that was the whole lesson 

Mast bump damage and failures are well documented in the Bell 206 line. None of the normal mast bump shearing is present in the photos. What is present is an intact rotor system and a clear removal of the roof deck with the transmission still attached. This wasn’t a bird strike.

does the absence of mast bumbing tell you it wasn't a bird strike. no. do you get mast bumbing with a bird strike? no. just stop talking about mast bumping already ffs

maybe not. it wasn't enough to seperate the head if there was. so who cares. that and 2 dollars will get you a cup of coffee

If memory serves correctly, that aircraft had Van Horn MR blades. An operator on the west coast had a 3 inch crack at the first rivet seam on one of their LR's 

could it be the vibration from the composite blades caused some resonance in the tail?

The photos show clear hub to mast contact.  The sequence actually looks pretty simple with one of two possible chains of event.  1) bird to blade. Blade imbalance leads to extreme teetering of remaining portion of blade (lost the outboard piece) flapped into the tailboom.  Tailboom fails and gearbox torque is so high that the gearbox and roof structure tear out exactly as photographed.  There are many mast bumps they separate gearbox from structure failing at the pylon to roof or roof beam to lift beams.  There’s a second scenario that involves pilot over control after pilot was incapacitated by the bird they was detected inside the cabin. This would occur similarly but the blade would be commanded extremely aft in an abrupt manner that would look the same as scenario 1.  Only major difference would be whether blade failed first or second