On November 23, 1996, at 1415 mountain standard time, an Aerospatiale AS-355-F1, N606SP, registered to the State of New Mexico, and operated by the New Mexico State Police, as a public use aircraft under Title 14 CFR Part 91, crashed while hovering near Taos, New Mexico. The commercial pilot and the search and rescue personnel aboard the helicopter were not injured. The helicopter sustained substantial damage. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the search and rescue mission and a company flight plan was filed. The flight originated from Santa Fe, New Mexico, approximately 0830. During a telephone interview, conducted by the investigator-in-charge, and on the enclosed statement, the pilot reported the following information. The search mission on the day of the accident was to locate and recover a deceased victim from the bottom of a canyon (650 feet deep) one mile south of the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, northwest of Taos, New Mexico. Visibility was between 5 and 10 miles with the winds from the west at 5 to 10 mph. Throughout the day several trips were conducted from the base camp area (a 1/8 square mile open grass helipad area) near the west side of the bridge. Ground rescue personnel located the victim and prepared the litter for transport from the canyon. The pilot flew the helicopter to the canyon and hovered the helicopter south with the tail rotor over the water and clear of the rocks near the shore. The pilot set a portion of the left skid on a boulder and hovered while the rescue team loaded the litter into the cabin on the left side of the helicopter. As the litter was being secured and one of the rescue team members was climbing on board, "a gust of wind caused the helicopter to yaw to the right." As the pilot "attempted to regain directional control, the skid started to slip on the rock, the tail pitched downward, and the vertical fin and tail rotor struck a rock." The pilot secured the engines and set the helicopter down, straddling a boulder. The tail rotor, tail boom, tail rotor gearbox, driveshaft, vertical fin, and skids were damaged.