Police helicopter crashes onto Glasgow pub
Just an observation but an object weighing 2500kg falling from say 213m(700') in freefall I.e dropping like a stone, would arrive at ground level in a little under 7 seconds. Not 30s. The terminal velocity would be determined by the cross section presented to direction of travel but without any additional resistance ( I.e. Turning rotor blades) the velocity at impact is likely to be in the region of 140-150mph say 64-65m/s.
As the helicopter had been tasked on an observational sortie it would most likely had an almost full fuel load but well below MTOW. If it was any lower than 700' or if a mechanical failure caused a preliminary descent before a freefall situation occurred, then the crew may have had only seconds to respond 5-6 seconds max. This might explain lack of may-day. There appears to have been little or no forward momentum but without knowing the initial direction of travel it is difficult to assess/verify this. The although the impact area appears small and consistent with an almost vertical drop the damage to a/c suggests an angled approach , nose down at speed. Sadly, not survivable. The cause was sudden with little or no control authority remaining? I am surprised that fleet grounding of similar variants / operational hours hasn't been considered. There is much to suggest mechanical failure and little to suggest anything else!