What happened
At about 1136 local time on 18 August 2025, an Aerospatiale AS 350 B2 helicopter was conducting heritage survey operations[1] with the pilot and 3 passengers on board, when it departed from a hilltop landing area, near a Port Hedland mine site in north-west Western Australia.
As the helicopter lifted off, it encountered a strong wind gust, prompting the pilot to use the collective[2] to increase the lift. This action caused the nose to pitch up, and the tail skid to pitch down, striking the ground, as well as yawing, resulting in lateral movement as the tail skid contacted the ground. The pilot felt the impact, then maintained a hover to assess the helicopter controllability and vibrations to the tail rotor. After about 15 seconds with no abnormal indications observed, the pilot proceeded to the planned destination and disembarked the passengers.
The pilot then continued to fly to a nearby airport for refuelling. The pilot completed a post-flight walk around after refuelling and identified minor damage in the lower vertical stabiliser (Figure 1) which was consistent with the earlier ground contact.
Figure 1: Photograph of crease in lower stabiliser
Source: Operator
Safety message
Following a tail strike or any suspected ground contact, the safest course of action is to land as soon as practicable and conduct an inspection before resuming further flight.
While in this instance the pilot assessed that there were no adverse controllability issues as a result of the ground contact, they continued to operate for 2 sectors with unknown structural damage to helicopter.
Operating a helicopter after such an event, without inspecting the helicopter structure, may result in potentially serious safety consequences.
About this report
Decisions regarding whether to conduct an investigation, and the scope of an investigation, are based on many factors, including the level of safety benefit likely to be obtained from an investigation. For this occurrence, no investigation has been conducted and the ATSB did not verify the accuracy of the information. A brief description has been written using information supplied in the notification and any follow-up information in order to produce a short summary report, and allow for greater industry awareness of potential safety issues and possible safety actions.
[1] A heritage survey is a technique for systematically investigating heritage resources within a defined geographic area.
[2] Collective: a primary helicopter flight control that simultaneously affects the pitch of all blades of a lifting rotor. Collective input is the main control for vertical velocity.