In the early 80s, our corporate flight department had a 222. This was just as the awful problems with the PT wheels and bearings on the LTS 101 were in full bloom. One rainy night, the chief pilot executed 2 missed approaches all the while a red ( not the yellow engine chip light but the red one) was glaring at him and the co-pilot was getting more and more adamant about wanting to bust minimums due to an emergency, which it surely was. CP also would not roll back the sick engine as the FM demanded. They did get on the ground the 3rd time. The next morning, maintenance went out and pulled the chip detector for the #3 bearing and it looked like one of those jokes they do jn the shop when they drag a magnetic chip detector through the drill press shavings and show the boss. The DOM said we'd have to find a hangar to change the engine. The bad judgement didn't end there. The next day, unbeknownst to anyone, the CP fired up the "good engine" and did a rolling takeoff, flew back to base OEI and swears he didn't pull the guts out of it landing on the company base pad.
I think if all the LA pilot might have done is fly past a marginal landing spot but get on the ground as soon as they could after that, he deserves lots of slack. A plastic bag, even a small one stuck on a rotor blade makes a gawd awful sound. I'd love to see what the damage actually was and hear whether or not the crew was experiencing severe vibrations or changes in control. Given it's public use, I doubt we will unless LA County decides it is a learning experience and lets the rest of us in on it. In my experience, if the video had not been made and there were no ground witnesses, we probably would not be hearing about it. The pilot may not deserve a medal but I'm sure they deserve to have no guilt beyond maybe hitting the rock in the first place. His snorkel wasn't extended and I wonder what they were doing in such a tight spot.