Jeebus H. Christ. Holy cow, some of you are dense. HE HAD TO PEE. He didn't want to do it in front of the pax that had just gotten out, so he moved the ship to someplace less "public." He got out. It rolled over on him.
Is this so difficult to imagine? Have none of you ever actually flown a helicopter other than in the training environment?
The NTSB very wisely refrained from saying whether it was the helicopter or the ground it was sitting on caused it to roll over. Guess what, Pap has those video recorder thingees installed in their birds which after review will tell us just what the pilot did...or didn't...do before hopping out.
In the meantime I would like to ask some of you helicopter experts a question: "What happens to your turbine helicopter when you are sitting there at IDLE and you pull up on the collective?"
Because while I cannot speak for your ship, in EVERY helicopter I've flown the rotor simply slows down. It does *not* cause the helicopter to get airborne. It just slows down. Because it's not governed, see?
After accidents like this, there are always the pompous, inexperienced know-it-alls who loudly proclaim how pilots should NEVER exit a running helicopter...harumph! Because that is what they've been taught. Or something.
But that's not reality.
Sometimes you have to do it. Sometimes you land the boss and his friends somewhere...some remote site (which is where helicopters go, right?), and you ask them all to just sit tight while you cool down your 206 for two-friggin'-minutes...and after about fifteen seconds all three doors pop open and they're getting out both sides. Because *they* have to pee, probably worse than you do. So you jump out to make sure they don't walk under the tail.
Hey, it happens.