“Unfortunately, they were on the side of the cliff and the helicopter went down into the lower part of the resort’s parking lot and landed again. There was minimal damage to the tail section of the helicopter, but they decided to take the blades out and it was trucked out. There were minor injuries to the nurses on board, they were complaining of elbow and shoulder pain. The pilot was fine.”-Sierra Blanca Regional Airport Manager Sean Parker
At first it was reported the pilot was avoiding a cable and that’s what caused this rough landing at Ski Apache in New Mexico but Ruidoso News now reports the landing, which left the medivac helicopter unflyable and injured a nurse, is blamed on a downdraft:
“They believe when the pilot was coming in, it was not mechanical or anything like that. The winds were whipping around and shifting, so when the helicopter was coming in to land, it either got a down-draft or a severe change in the wind, which created a very hard landing.”
The National Transportation Safety Board was contacted but officials quickly closed the case: “Because there were no major injuries or damage to the aircraft, they immediately released the case and they didn’t want to do any further investigation.”