FYI from the source:
"The difference is in a hard landing the pilot [has] more control, as opposed to a crash which would have been something more severe," said Army Maj. Allen Hill.
You may know that SOAR operators are a very aggressive group of aviators. Hill may not have intended his terminology to apply to fixed-wing events.
Let’s see...one dead and two injured in a “hard landing”. How much more severe would it have had to be before it’s classified as a crash? Does everybody on board have to die first?