This could have gone rather wrong...

[Garry Russell]

At least with a cable like that they are fairly close to the ground and can stick it down with some forward motion still.

Something like a cable Car cable would me a straight plummet.

[jonesey2k]

135kV...... Mmmmm.

[SkippyBing]

At least with a cable like that they are fairly close to the ground and can stick it down with some forward motion still.

Something like a cable Car cable would me a straight plummet.

The main factor is whether you've still got control of the rotor head, both the incidents I'm familiar with did and were able to make a controlled landing, in which case even striking wires a thousand feet or so up wouldn't necessarily be terminal you're just hoping everything holds together for a few extra seconds before you land. Generally the engines aren't affected by a wire strike as they're not near the leading edge of the airframe so keeping the rotors turning isn't an issue.

If there's sufficient damage to the pitch link rods that you lose control then the mystery of helicopter rotor dynamics means you may not land the right way up even at a hundred feet or so.

[Garry Russell]

Never a good situation to be in