B222 helicopter struck a heliport light with the tail rotor.

Attributes
ACN	480235
Time
Date	200007
Day	Fri
Place
Locale Reference	airport : zzz.airport
State Reference	US
Altitude	agl single value : 1
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Operator	common carrier : air carrier Other
Make Model Name	Bell Helicopter 222
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	climbout : takeoff climbout other
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Affiliation	company other
Function	flight crew : single pilot
Qualification	pilot : instrument pilot : multi engine pilot : commercial pilot : atp
Experience	flight time last 90 days : 60 flight time total : 9000 flight time type : 1000
ASRS Report	480235
Events
Anomaly	conflict : ground critical ground encounters other
Independent Detector	other flight crewa
Resolutory Action	none taken : detected after the fact
Supplementary
Problem Areas	Airport Flight Crew Human Performance
Primary Problem	Airport
Situations
Airport	design : zzz.airport lighting : zzz.airport procedure or policy : zzz.airport

Narrative:

Upon lifting off from the ZZZ hospital helipad the tail rotor struck a helipad light. Problem: the helipad lights are too tall and too close to the center of the helipad. Solution: use flush mounted lights. Use shorter light stand. Move lights further away.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B222 HELI STRUCK A HELIPORT LIGHT WITH THE TAIL ROTOR.

Narrative: UPON LIFTING OFF FROM THE ZZZ HOSPITAL HELIPAD THE TAIL ROTOR STRUCK A HELIPAD LIGHT. PROB: THE HELIPAD LIGHTS ARE TOO TALL AND TOO CLOSE TO THE CTR OF THE HELIPAD. SOLUTION: USE FLUSH MOUNTED LIGHTS. USE SHORTER LIGHT STAND. MOVE LIGHTS FURTHER AWAY.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 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.