Whilst mustering cattle near a holding yard, the helicopter was being held in the hover in a 15-20 knot headwind. Because some of the cattle broke away, the pilot turned downwind to herd them back. As the aircraft rolled out of the turn it began to descend and the pilot attempted to arrest the sink by increasing collective. However, the helicopter continued downward and impacted heavily on the ground resulting in the tail boom being sheared off. It then bounced into the air and began to yaw rapidly but the pilot quickly and firmly placed it back onto the ground. When the helicopter came to rest the occupants were able to extricate themselves from the wreckage. The pilot misjudged the performance that could be expected from the helicopter. When the machine was turned downwind, the sudden loss of lift resulted in a descent from which the pilot was unable to recover before the aircraft collided with the ground. The pilot reported that he believes he overpitched the main rotor during the recovery attempt.
