I do not believe that the accident was the result of “Tip sailing” during shut down or, start up.
I believe that the blades were traveling at a very high rate. I believe this because of the amount of damage to the effected blade. I will stand corrected but I do not believe you can see the other blade tips to determine if there were multiple strikes.
I believe it could have been caused by one of three or more reasons.
1) The ship rolled and the blades acting as a gyro the rotor displaced 90-degrees later resulting in the disc tilting downward.
2) The pilot tried to correct for the movement of the ship (Pitch and/or roll).
3) This is a no-no on board ship. The pilot did not turn the autopilot off which is a requirement for shipboard ops.
Or........
IMHO
