[huffpopo]

Helicopters are slow, and they probably didn't have the rotor speed needed to yank the collective.

Hitting a 2kg drone would result in expensive repairs, e.g. $30K for replacement rotor blades and you still might crash.

I probably would have taken the hit but I'm much better off than the average R22 pilot who often operate or razor thin margins.

That said; my bet is that there was no drone. My guess is the student made a small mistake, the teacher took over and made a bigger mistake, and both want to keep their jobs/future carers. Drones make an easy target to lie about and are hated anyway. Not to say there are no irresponsible drone pilots, just currently I think it's more likely heli-pilot error at this stage. My hope is the GPS tracking in the phantom well let us know for sure.

[huffpopo]

I'm curios on the 10+ downvotes this received since posting; would someone care to give me a reason. Thx

[DrScump]

I suspect that filing a false report with the NTSB would be a crime, in which case you'd be accusing the crew of breaking the law, perhaps even perjury.

[DoreenMichele]

I did not down vote. My guess is the mudslinging:

My guess is the student made a small mistake, the teacher took over and made a bigger mistake, and both want to keep their jobs/future carers. Drones make an easy target to lie about and are hated anyway.

[huffpopo]

Ah, I consider them human with human faults and incentives. One really sad aspect is that a major killer of helicopter pilots is cutting corners on preventative maintenance in order to save money. I feel like we need to be honest on what people are like.

[DoreenMichele]

When making such points, it usually helps to talk about the systemic or situational factors pressuring people to do such things and to frame it as one plausible explanation that fits the scenario as presented rather than as an accusation.

You need to be very careful about making public accusations (or sounding like you are). That can seriously harm people's careers and lives.

[dzhiurgis]

Was it 2kg or 0.5kg drone? Is there much difference between two, afaik all of them are more or less plastic.

If planes and helicopter are ok with hitting birbs, perhaps we should regulate drone manufacturing to be more like birbs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl-27Bk_RME

[huffpopo]

Drones have harder parts and I would expect hardness to play a big role in damage done. But it doesn't even need to be hard, raindrops can also do a fair amount of expensive damage.