To quote foxtrot lima yankee - "This time of year in Australia there is alot of long dry grass, I figure the PIC had no other option but as to land. You never been in an sticky situation heliduck? "
I can't help myself, but where do I start.
Lets break it down a bit - "I figure the PIC had no other option but as to land". If there was no mechanical failure, fuel in the tank & he was still in VMC the only reason you "have to land" is if you have gut cramps & are about to stain your pants.
"This time of year in Australia there is alot of long dry grass" - Australia has lots of dry grass & it has been proven numerous times now that if you park your very hot R44 exhaust on top of said dry grass there is a better than average chance that it will catch fire & burn your helicopter to the ground. Not a desirable outcome, but it happened frequently enough that Frank brought out an update which is a few bits of tin attached to the underside exhaust pipes by a few hose clamps from Mitre 10. The instances of R44's burning while parked were discussed far & wide in the bush throughout Australia as well as in various regulatory publications, as no-one likes to see a perfectly good helicopter burn.
I for one took note of all these discussions as I prefer to learn from other peoples mistakes as opposed to trying to make all of the mistakes since Igors first flight over again. This approach to learning from others has allowed me to operate in the bush in Australia using an R44 for many, many years including well over 20000 landings in areas which were "covered in long dry grass". On many occassions I no sooner had the throttle closed & I was out the door kicking grass from under the engine to prevent the very scenario as described previously. So you see, it can be done.
To expand a little, my propensity to observe others mistakes & learn from them has also to date prevented me from pulling power in a B206 to the point where the tail rotor can no longer compensate, flying into a cloud which has rocks in it, hitting a wire while spraying or mustering, hooking the long-line inadvertently, taking off with the seat belts hanging out of a squirrell, flying into the ground at night, flying into the ground over a lake during a snow-storm & all of those other wonderful things that people have done over the years which have ended in some form of "bad luck".
Last but not least - "You never been in an sticky situation heliduck? " - Yes I have been in some situations which I found very challenging, & I suppose some of those were to the point of being "sticky". Rather than blame it on "bad luck", on every occassion I chastised myself for not being more professional, as after all of these years of rotary flight I am sure that learning from somebody elses "bad luck" could have allowed me to avoid those very situations.
To summarise all of this dribble, learn from others mistakes, but if you don't & have an accident/incident then look for your culprit in the mirror, don't blame "BAD LUCK" as she had nothing to do with it.