that looked really expensive

Pilot error? If he's in auto-rotation, and that thing is in one piece, that's pilot SKILL.

...and everyone aboard needed freshies that day

This is OnStar, It appears you are all 9 in's shorter. Do you require emergency help?

YouTube description:

According to the pilot-in-command (PIC), he was performing autorotations at the lower part of the main rotor rpm green arc in part due to weight considerations. Upon entering the accident autorotation, he maintained an airspeed between 85-90 knots in the hope that extra speed would allow a more aggressive deceleration flare prior to touchdown, which should in turn further slow the rate of descent and forward speed. The helicopter's rate of descent was high, and as the PIC turned the helicopter onto the runway heading it was apparent to him that the rate of descent was excessive and that he was too low to execute either a proper deceleration flare or perform a power recovery. He attempted to level the helicopter as much as possible prior to impact to minimize the damage to the helicopter and prevent injury. The helicopter landed hard with the left skid contacting the runway first. The left skid collapsed, damaging the outboard landing gear damper attachment structure. The helicopter slid about 100 yards before coming to a stop. According to the manufacturer, the main rotor rpm range is 90 percent to 106.4 percent. At the helicopter's weight and the density altitude on the day of the accident, the main rotor rpm during the autorotation should have been above the 106.4 percent limit (red line), requiring the pilot to increase collective pitch to maintain the rotor rpm within limits. Performing autorotations at the lower part of the green arc provides less availability of rotor energy to perform an autorotation landing. The pilot should have recognized that he was not achieving the required main rotor rpm for the autorotations and terminated the maneuvers. The helicopter was within weight and balance limits.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:

The pilot's failure to maintain adequate main rotor rpm during an autorotation, which resulted in a hard landing.

Is an autorotation landing ever *not* hard?

LOL no, it's not. You obviously don't know anything about piloting a helicopter.

Yes all the time when done correctly.

How about more information and less douche attitude. If you know so much, or anything at all, why don't you fill us in. At least you might be adding something interesting to the conversation. Comments like yours add nothing to the discussion and make you look kinda like an ass that would be better suited commenting over at YouTube. Just My Opinion.

Umad bro?

This isn't 9gag. No one finds that funny here.

Umad bro? Wait don't bother answering that, it's obvious that you are.

Also, who appointed you to speak for everyone? You claim to know how EVERYONE feels about my post? Lol, arrogant little prick.

The votes speak for themselves darling.

I, for one, would LOVE to hear your extensive knowledge of helicopter piloting and how it applies to this incident.
Please fill me in.

In retrospect, I did find it funny.

oh don't be a braggart!

well... that escalated quickly...

yep. Landing. not a crash. he lives to fly again, and hopefully will.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'helicopter, pilot error, crash, hard, landing, no injuries, 2009' to 'helicopter, pilot error, crash, hard, landing, no injuries, 2009, autorotation' - edited by xxovercastxx

...and yet I don't give a flying fuck what you say, but recognize @jimnms valid information proving me wrong.

Hmmm... I guess being an arrogant, pedantic blowhard doesn't work for some people.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

If we banned everyone who leaves douchey comments we'd lose half our member base - OH SNAP! (And I might need to ban myself). I'm unbanning, but giving an official warning to mind the ad homs.

It's kinda neat how the comment stream for this sift matches the sift itself.
- Ooh that looks like a dangerous thing to do.
- Uh oh, the pilot's in trouble
- Holy crap. Will the pilot live?
- SMASH
- ...aaand nobody was killed. Pilot's got a blemish on their record though.

...and yet he still cared enough to post this.

My understanding is that a correct autorotation is NOT accompanied by a hard landing. However, it IS very difficult to pull off (hard---what a pun!), the closest personally analogy I can think of, being docking a boat by chopping the throttle while still tens of yards away from the dock, casting it up alongside just So---with all the kinetic energy elegantly spent before kissing the dock side.

The helicopter analogy, again, to my knowledge, is that once engine failure is clearly happening, you flatten the pitch, give up the lift the blades were generating, start falling and preserve main rotor RPM as much as possible---and you get exactly one chance and one chance only to pull pitch (make the rotor blades bite the air) at just the right distance above the ground to decelerate the helicopter just as all the rotational energy of the blades finishes spending itself in generating that last, final iota of lift--and then you kiss the ground.
Or not.

I had a similar fight with one "pilot" before about a Mi-24 Hind crash.
He the one supposedly flying generic civilian helicopters and telling me that forward speed in choppers can never be converted into altitude or at least to decrease the falling speed. Not realizing that a chopper like the Hind has huge wings that actually give a lot of uplift in situations like in this video here or the Hind crash.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16IbXNN5eyM

Funny how it even seems to work with "wingless" choppers to a lesser extend.

Correct, the landing should not be hard when done correctly. Also while you are correct that it is difficult to do correctly, we used to do them all the time in the military. That's what TRAINING is for. That said, there are plenty of difficult maneuvers done by military pilots routinely. Landing on an LPH or aircraft carrier for example (especially fixed wing with no hover capability). Also landing a helo in "the field" can be a challenge, landing in between trees, around obstacles, on top of obstacles, etc. All of which is done routinely in the military on a daily basis. Also low visibility, night flights, and instrument only flights can be a challenge. Flying over water at night in a helo is also challenging and dangerous.