I thought I might share these as examples of when a pilot doesn't realise how close he came...
These are from a visiting machine and I only know part of the story.
Tailboom on the drivers side. Both blades have touched the tail. Only paint removed, no actual indentation.
My guess is that the aircraft was not in balance and so the tail has yawed forward to the left. As the retreating blade has flapped down, and the unload aircraft has rolled to the side... leaving the tailboom exposed to the flapping blade.
Note the upturned trailing edge. I'm not sure how much pitch was being pulled when the blade touched.
Another view of the blade tip, trailing edge.
The upturned tip caused an out of track situation which was the first thing noticed by the pilot. A track and balance was later carried out.
There were no witness marks on the main rotor mast bump stops, so it makes me wonder in what order does stuff happen? Does the blade come into contact with the tail first then snap the mast, or as the mast snaps, does it contact the cabin...
The engineer inspected it all, found it within spec' and signed it off as safe to fly.
I think someone from the factory would love to see it to see what almost happened, although they are not likely to come to Australia.