Helicopter
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 11; Flight Crew Total 26670; Flight Crew Type 861
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Inflight Event / Encounter Object
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged
Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors
The day began with me planning to go on site to dry cherries after an all-day rainstorm passed through. The fields were assigned to each pilot that they were to dry. There were 5 fields to dry which amounted to 32 acres of cherry trees. Most fields had obstructions to avoid; power lines; frost fan towers; telephone poles and in some cases; guy wires from telephone poles. There is a high degree of urgency to get the fields dry before the cherries absorb too much water and ruin the crop.After my field assignment I was having trouble getting the helicopter started. I contacted my immediate boss for guidance and with the help of a GPU from one of our fellow pilots; the helicopter started. That fixed the problem and I notified my boss we were good to go. I did not realize at that time I was 30 minutes behind schedule. I flew to the first field on the assignment; #13 of 2 acres. I continued the drying to #8; 5 acres; #13; 8 acres; then to #5; 7 acres and finally #7; 10 acres. On my high reconnaissance to my last field I noticed some workers moving on the ground on one of my previous fields. Having just about completed my last field; I noticed a power line had come down beside and slightly behind me. I did not hear; feel nor see the power line upon any possible contact. I initially thought I needed to set the helicopter down; but the immediate area had too many obstacles and I was over the other cherry trees. Since I had only a few more rows to finish and didn't feel or notice anything different in the helicopter; I finished the job and headed back to the airport to inspect the helicopter.On my flight back to the airport I glanced at the area of workers I had seen before starting field #7 and observed that there was another power line on the ground. Upon landing by the fuel pump to use the ladder to inspect the main rotor blades; I called my boss and reported I appeared to have hit some power lines. He wanted me to send pictures of the main rotor blades. The tail rotors had no damage and one main rotor blade had no visible damage. The other main rotor blade had a slight dent on the most outboard tip which is the end cap piece on the main rotor. I sent both main rotor pictures. He said the damage looked negligible to him at that time. Shortly after talking to him the general contractor called and said he heard I hit a power line and told him I had just gotten off the phone with my boss to tell him. He then grounded the aircraft for further inspection. I carefully low hover taxied to parking.It is always easier to figure out the right course of action after reflection on the incident. There is a great need to fulfill the customers' expectations to get the cherries dried in a timely manner and there is a rushed sense to dry quickly but thoroughly. The job at hand was foremost in my mind but my initial response to quickly get the helicopter on the ground was that the timeliness of finding a suitable landing spot and set down vs. the short distance from the airport; only a few minutes; I elected to divert there. In conclusion; this incident could have been better executed with some lessons learned. This is an extremely hazardous environment to fly. There is an urgency to get the job done quickly and rush through safety procedures. I let the rush to finish the job cloud my judgment and didn't set down as soon as I saw the power line down even though the terrain wasn't as suitable as I thought it should be. Err on the side of caution. Even though there was nothing felt in the aircraft there could have been substantial damage and things could have deteriorated quickly.
An agriculture Helicopter flight struck power lines while conducting its mission.