Looking at the blade damage reminded of a basic design choice decision that had to be made back in 1972: extend the titanium spar all the way to the tip, or utilize a frangible tip cap. The former design was of course the Bell approach in the UH-1 series. There are arguments for both options and in this case it was decided to go with a frangible ( and swept ) tip cap, opting for the argument that was based on the assumption that nap of the earth flying ( the new “vogue “ at the time ), would result in occasionally hitting tree limbs and it would be simpler to replace tip caps. ( The S-67 project pilot had provided an unplanned demonstration of this necessity while making a marketing movie over at the West Point military reservation, so it was fresh in everyone’s mind ).
In this case, it probably prevented a much more serious result, if one imagines the damage inflicted in hitting the blade spar against a steel mast. There wouldn’t have been the option of putting the ship down ashore. Mind, there are blade balance weights in the tip cap attachment area and bashing the tip cap (s) incurs significant 1/rev and track problems, but the ship will still fly.