Originally Posted by
horizon flyer
In one of the pictures of the wreck...one of the tail rotor blades can be seen and it is in one piece and not bent. From this one could assume no collision with a fixed object and not under power when it hit the ground.
So may be a failure in the transmission...
Not a failure of the transmission as such, but a sudden failure to transmit power to the TR for whatever reason i.e. a disconnect somewhere in the drive train. A disconnect can happen for any number of various reasons. There are of course a few other possible causes for loss of direction control.
I'm curious why the take-off procedure commenced from the middle of the pitch, leaving usable take-off path behind the aircraft (not-withstanding backing up slightly during the initial ascent).