Unbelievable! What a accident. Deep condolences to the families of the deceased. My assistance and feelings to the pilot.
Well said JHR,
I do not think it's poor airmanship to fly across powerlines or even a tram line with an external load.
Absolutely arrogant, presumptuous and a sign of ignorance of this kind of operations to speak about poor airmanship or bad company management.
The accident happened in 2800m in snow and ice, only helicopters are able to bring loads in this area. It's a wide wide area and the cable is nearly the sole obstacle. I had personally 2 unexpected load releases in the past and the world of slingloaders is full of this kind of incident. There are many ways to loss a load. The German Border Guard encountered 2 unexpected load releases with human external load (short haul) two weeks ago and the mechanism of opening the hook in this incidents is also nearly unbelievable. Only the redundancy saved the lives of the rescuers.
At the moment it's unclear why the concrete kettle in Austria came off.
But to hit a round about 2,5 inches steel cable and a 2,5m wide gondola from 800-1000ft is a feasibility only mathematicians or chair seater could calculate. It's absolutely common in Europe since 30 years to operate with sling loads above the heads (construction work) or in obstacle areas (towns, railway stations,...), there are thousends of cellular radio stations settled by helicopters in such areas as example, but may be this accident could change the minds of authorities, we have to evacuate the whole area before any chopper taking off and the helicopterbusiness will lost one of it's strongest parts.
Anyway blame the company, blame the mechanics or blame the pilot if the release reason is clear. But it stays a nearly unbelievable and very sad accident.