Helicopters are slow, and they probably didn't have the rotor speed needed to yank the collective.
Hitting a 2kg drone would result in expensive repairs, e.g. $30K for replacement rotor blades and you still might crash.
I probably would have taken the hit but I'm much better off than the average R22 pilot who often operate or razor thin margins.
That said; my bet is that there was no drone. My guess is the student made a small mistake, the teacher took over and made a bigger mistake, and both want to keep their jobs/future carers. Drones make an easy target to lie about and are hated anyway. Not to say there are no irresponsible drone pilots, just currently I think it's more likely heli-pilot error at this stage. My hope is the GPS tracking in the phantom well let us know for sure.
Hitting a 2kg drone would result in expensive repairs, e.g. $30K for replacement rotor blades and you still might crash.
I probably would have taken the hit but I'm much better off than the average R22 pilot who often operate or razor thin margins.
That said; my bet is that there was no drone. My guess is the student made a small mistake, the teacher took over and made a bigger mistake, and both want to keep their jobs/future carers. Drones make an easy target to lie about and are hated anyway. Not to say there are no irresponsible drone pilots, just currently I think it's more likely heli-pilot error at this stage. My hope is the GPS tracking in the phantom well let us know for sure.