Of course it’s too early to know why the Safari Helicopters AStar crashed this week, killing all aboard. But it sure looks like a long line of other Hawai’ian tour crashes that fall under the category “Controlled Flight Into Terrain,” or CFIT for short.
Hawai’i is subject to “microclimates.” The weather can be fine
NTSB preliminary reports do not draw conclusions as the cause of a crash. But the NTSB’s preliminary report of the Turbine Otter crash that killed 9 near Ketchikan on June 25 suggests a weather-related “CFIT” crash, exactly as described here.
First, the report indicates that the flight was conducted under Visual Flight Rules. That means
We don’t know much yet about the plane crash in Alaska that killed the pilot and 8 tourists from the MS Westerdam. But the crash looks eerily similar to the Alaskan crash that killed Senator Ted Stevens and three others in 2010.
Like the plane that was involved in the Westerdam crash, the plane
No, he didn’t buy next to the airport. But for this property owner, he might as well have.
I thought I’d write to you, what do I have to lose at this point?
These tour helicopters "buzz" my property 7 days a week. I’m literally losing it.
Highest count so far, 42 flights in a
Eurocopter’s AStar is the most popular tour helicopter in the United States. But according to some tour operators, the helicopter is dangerous and defective. They use it anyway because it is the most profitable.
No, I’m not making this up.
Problems with the AStar 350?
One of Las Vegas’ largest tour operators, Heli-USA, is
The NTSB blamed the pilot for the last Blue Hawaiian helicopter crash into the side of a mountain. The NTSB concluded that while flying near bad weather, the pilot inadvertently entered clouds, became disoriented, and lost control of the helicopter. According to the NTSB, the probable cause of the accident was:
The pilot’s inadequate decision by which he
Operators have begun using LSAs — particularly "trikes" — to give air tours over the Hawaiian islands. LSAs fly low and slow, just like helicopters, and are much cheaper to run. But they have a terrible safety record. And it’s illegal to use LSAs for commercial tours.
If it is illegal to use LSAs for commercial
The Hawaiian air tour industry has a horrible safety record. And now it has claimed yet another life – that of a 53 year-old Californian who had traveled with his wife to the islands to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.
I’ve written before about the dangers of Hawaiian helicopter tours. But this tourist’s death was
This week, aviation accident attorneys from across the country met on Maui to discuss current topics in aviation law. This was part of the American Association of Justice’s Winter Convention. I was honored to have been asked to speak. My talk was on Hawaii helicopter crash litigation — a topic with which we are —
In 1994, the FAA — hoping to reduce the number of helicopter tour crashes in Hawaii — promulgated a controversial rule that set minimum altitudes for Hawaiian sight seeing flights.
According to an article appearing this spring in Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine, after the rule went into effect the overall number of helicopter crashes in Hawaii decreased