Narrative:

Established radio contact with on-ground first responders at 5 nm out from scene asking for landing zone (lz) information. The first responders relayed that the lz will be in the middle of state highway X; with wires on the south side and north side and some wires crossing the highway at the east end of the lz area which a police cruiser will be directly under for identification purposes. We as a crew discussed and noted that traffic was still moving on the highway. The moving traffic allowed us to utilize crew resource management (CRM) while conducting two high reconnaissance to identify the obstacles and talk about them. Once we received a radio update from the ground crews that traffic was stopped we commenced our low reconnaissance and approach to the lz. Winds were negligible and not a factor for landing; so I chose to land to the western heading of the lz on the highway with all lights to our backs due to numerous car lights on and around the east end of the lz. I did not want to be blinded under the night vision goggles (nvgs) in the most critical stages of landing when clearance could be an issue. Trying to remain focused and visually aware of distances as we entered the approach phase of landing.as we descended to the lz; all three of us continued our discussion of the obstacles with the power lines on the south side of the road; power lines on the north side of the road and trees on the north side of the road; and the power line to the east of the lz. As we descended and got closer to the road and wires; my flight nurse asked if we can slide right a little to give a bit more separation from the south side wires. I said okay and as I shifted the helicopter to the right simultaneously the main rotor blades made contact with tree branch(s) on the north side of the road/right side of helicopter. All three crewmembers acknowledged tree branches were being hit; what seemed lightly; since I did not feel any feedback in the BK117 flight controls and did not notice any rotor droop. I stopped the descent 20-30 feet above the ground with the idea of avoiding catastrophic damage to the blades from contacting the bigger/thicker branches at the bottom of the tree and raised collective to move helicopter up and away from the designated lz for a clear field 50 yards to the south of the designated lz. We climbed up and flew a mini/low reconnaissance circle around to the adjacent field of the designated lz. We openly talked about any wires or obstacles in the field prior to landing in the field. Also; contacted the first responders that we will be cancelling the flight due to mechanical issues of the helicopter before landing into the field. Landed helicopter safely down in the field and commenced shutdown procedures. During shutdown; we discussed what happened and talked about the medical crew going by ground with the first responders to aid if needed. Exited the helicopter; called company communications. Crew did their walk around while I made the two calls. After my calls; I conducted my post flight walk around looking for blade damage or any other problems. I did not notice any physical or structural damage and just wipe/smear marks in the dirt in the yellow blade tip area from the branch(s) contacting the blades. Logged the blade contact in the logbook and waited for maintenance to conduct inspections.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: BK-117 pilot reported that after the main rotor contacted tree branches during a landing attempt; the helicopter was repositioned to land in a nearby field.

Narrative: Established radio contact with on-ground first responders at 5 nm out from scene asking for Landing Zone (LZ) information. The first responders relayed that the LZ will be in the middle of State highway X; with wires on the south side and north side and some wires crossing the highway at the east end of the LZ area which a police cruiser will be directly under for ID purposes. We as a crew discussed and noted that traffic was still moving on the highway. The moving traffic allowed us to utilize Crew Resource Management (CRM) while conducting two high reconnaissance to identify the obstacles and talk about them. Once we received a radio update from the ground crews that traffic was stopped we commenced our low reconnaissance and approach to the LZ. Winds were negligible and not a factor for landing; so I chose to land to the western heading of the LZ on the highway with all lights to our backs due to numerous car lights on and around the East end of the LZ. I did not want to be blinded under the Night Vision Goggles (NVGs) in the most critical stages of landing when clearance could be an issue. Trying to remain focused and visually aware of distances as we entered the approach phase of landing.As we descended to the LZ; all three of us continued our discussion of the obstacles with the power lines on the south side of the road; power lines on the north side of the road and trees on the north side of the road; and the power line to the east of the LZ. As we descended and got closer to the road and wires; my flight nurse asked if we can slide right a little to give a bit more separation from the south side wires. I said okay and as I shifted the helicopter to the right simultaneously the main rotor blades made contact with tree branch(s) on the north side of the road/right side of helicopter. All three crewmembers acknowledged tree branches were being hit; what seemed lightly; since I did not feel any feedback in the BK117 flight controls and did not notice any rotor droop. I stopped the descent 20-30 feet above the ground with the idea of avoiding catastrophic damage to the blades from contacting the bigger/thicker branches at the bottom of the tree and raised collective to move helicopter up and away from the designated LZ for a clear field 50 yards to the south of the designated LZ. We climbed up and flew a mini/low reconnaissance circle around to the adjacent field of the designated LZ. We openly talked about any wires or obstacles in the field prior to landing in the field. Also; contacted the first responders that we will be cancelling the flight due to mechanical issues of the helicopter before landing into the field. Landed helicopter safely down in the field and commenced shutdown procedures. During shutdown; we discussed what happened and talked about the medical crew going by ground with the first responders to aid if needed. Exited the helicopter; called Company Communications. Crew did their walk around while I made the two calls. After my calls; I conducted my post flight walk around looking for blade damage or any other problems. I did not notice any physical or structural damage and just wipe/smear marks in the dirt in the yellow blade tip area from the branch(s) contacting the blades. Logged the blade contact in the logbook and waited for maintenance to conduct inspections.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.