What I think is causing your problem is something called mast bumping which is essentially the rotorhead impacting the mast and breaking it off. It can happen on the ground when moving the control stick to any extreme. You have to find out what is causing the mast bumping.
Are you sure the control stick is centered in-game when starting a mission? Look for the diamond shape in the red box at the top left.
Also, make sure "Sync cockpit controls with HOTAS at mission start" is ticked off in the options / misc. menu.
^ This
Either way, real life pilots aren't forced to look for targets on 1920x1080 resolution screens.
The way I see it, Zooming is just like focusing on a specific point IRL.
Happened to me too once. Main landing gear was still there, nose high in the air with the front wheel off the tarmac. It dragged its tail to a halt. Im not sure what causes it but main gear damage seems likely.
Im sorry, I completely forgot about this thread.
xracer: There is not much FPS drop in the clouds after all.
Maybe the problem was with precipitation then...