The chopper hit hard, bounced up, and slid down the hill.
Fortunately, the helicopter did not roll over, but Pete Hildebrand, an eyewitness, shooting video of the incident as it was happening, said it was too damaged to take off again.
"I thought that helicopter was going to tip over and hit the rotors and we were all going to have to duck," Hildebrand told KOAT.
Officials said the pilot took evasive action to avoid hitting a cable, resulting in the hard landing.