The helicopter could have crossed behind the gondola. This would have presented a smaller target at the very least.
@ effortless
A detail perhaps not covered by the media ist that this is not one single gondula traveling the wire up and down. There are 30 to 60 gondolas with a spacing to each other of approx. 20 m.
Crossing between gondulas wpuld not help a bit since this gap of 20 m would prevent nothing. In this case, the payload of concrete hit one gondula, but also two others were ripped from the cable because of the oscillations in the car.
Such a cabe car simply means you have a barrier through a valley which you can only cross during the night. A time where it is nearly impossible to fly in areas where people are on vacation - even worse if this car ends in a village - the barrier through the valley is complete - no passing on either side.
Regards, Bernhard