Odds are the helicopter hit a tail rotor on a fence or some such thing, and had a relatively uneventful landing, even though it was too damaged to be used for extraction.
Helicopters can quite easily land if they lose power, etc., through a process called autorotation.
It was the explosive charges that were set and detonated before the team left that did the vast majority of the damage.
I landed my AH-64 Longbow using autorotation many times in the late-90s Janes simulator. I really wish somebody would come out with a good battle helicopter sim again.
Interesting story of the two Aérospatiale Lama world records:
"On 21 June 1972 a Lama with a single pilot (Jean Boulet) aboard established a helicopter absolute altitude record of 12,442 m (40,814 ft), immediately followed by an inadvertent record for the longest ever autorotation when the engine flamed out at the peak altitude of the flight."
(from wikipedia)
Always reminds me of the saying: "there are no good helicopter pilots, there are only old helicopter pilots".
Helicopters can quite easily land if they lose power, etc., through a process called autorotation.
It was the explosive charges that were set and detonated before the team left that did the vast majority of the damage.