Originally Posted by
RVDT
..The history of the ADF use is not as squeaky clean as has been pointed out already -
They certainly pranged more than one. I remember seeing a bent example in the RAAF Fairbairn hangar well before the 1997 example mentioned. I don't ever recall a Huey H model being bent during training, although I've got a hunch they probably scratched a few. Army certainly bent (and totaled) 206's during training, one of which I saw happen live at Oakey (which ended with one of those coffee meetings with the CO where there is no coffee, and mostly one-way chat). But of the bendings I know of, no 206 got bent during hydraulics off training.
In the civilian world, at least five AS350 write-offs occurred in the fleet during my time with employers who operated that type, due to hydraulic or engine failures, not including another one which got shot down through no fault other than the multiple bullet holes which caused its demise, plus another AS350 that had a hydraulics failure on take-off that through pure fortune and good luck resulted in a successful landing without a scratch much to the pilots surprise.
...and to conclude on the story of the demise of that AS350 due to bullet holes, the four trigger happy villains that caused said bullet holes were themselves promptly subjected to bullet holes delivered by the good guys, sufficiently to the extent required to cause their permanent demise. Some might say, more than sufficiently so.