Hawaii Helicopter Accident

[NTSB Press Releases <NTSBPressReleases@xxxxxxxx>]

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                      NTSB PRESS RELEASE
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National Transportation Safety Board
Washington, DC 20594

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 13, 2007
SB-07-08

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FLIGHT INTO BAD WEATHER CAUSE OF HELICOPTER CRASH IN HAWAII

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Washington, DC - The National Transportation Safety Board 
today determined that the probable cause of the fatal crash 
of an air tour helicopter in Hawaii "was the pilot's 
decision to continue flight into adverse weather conditions, 
which resulted in a loss of control due to an encounter with 
a microburst."

Contributing to the accident, the Board said, was inadequate 
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) surveillance of 
compliance with Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) 
71 operating restrictions.  Contributing to the loss of life 
in the accident was the lack of helicopter flotation 
equipment.

On the afternoon of September 23, 2005, an Aerospatiale 
AS350BA helicopter, registered to Jan Leasing, LLC, and 
operated by Heli-USA Airways, Inc., encountered adverse 
weather and crashed into the Pacific Ocean several hundred 
feet off the coast of Kailiu Point, near Haena, Hawaii.

The flight had departed from Lihue Airport for an intended 
45-minute tour of the island of Kauai.  Three passengers 
died of drowning or drowning-related circumstances; the 
commercial pilot and two other passengers received minor 
injuries.

Investigators noted that there is no weather reporting 
facility on the north end of Kauai, where the accident 
occurred, and that in the absence of reliable and timely 
official weather information, air tour pilots typically are 
required to use their own judgment, based on the appearance 
of the weather conditions, to determine whether to proceed 
with a flight.

Because the island's unique weather patterns involve daily, 
brief, localized rain showers, it is not unusual for Kauai 
air tour pilots to encounter and briefly penetrate areas of 
precipitation during flights.

The helicopter was not equipped with flotation equipment and 
sank quickly after hitting the water.  Although each 
occupant wore a waist pouch containing a vest-type personal 
flotation device (PFD) and received instruction in its use, 
not all were able to don the PFD, exit the helicopter and 
properly inflate the PFD.  One surviving passenger stated 
that when the helicopter touched down and rolled on its side 
the cabin was engulfed in water within about three seconds.

In a 1995 report on the U.S. air tour industry, the Board 
noted that combined use of PFDs and helicopter flotation 
equipment provided an optimum level of safety for passengers 
in the event of an emergency ditching, and urged the FAA to 
reconsider the SFAR 71 rule that allowed Hawaii air tour 
operators to provide only one or the other. 

On October 22, 2003, the FAA issued for public comment a 
proposed rule that would have required most types of air 
tour helicopters operating over water to be equipped with 
fixed or inflatable floats.  However, the final rule, 
announced on February 8, 2007 by the FAA, while providing 
for enhanced oversight of commercial air tours, falls short 
on mandating helicopter flotation devices when PFDs are 
provided.

"This flight into dangerous weather conditions had tragic 
consequences," said NTSB Chairman Mark V. Rosenker, "but 
lives might have been spared if the helicopter had flotation 
equipment.  I am disappointed that the rulemaking process 
once again has moved so slowly and that the final result 
still leaves open a real safety gap."

The Board recommended that FAA require that "all helicopters 
used in commercial air tour operations over water, 
regardless of the amount of time over water, be amphibious 
or equipped with fixed or inflatable floats."

The Board also recommended that the FAA evaluate the design, 
maintenance, and in-service handling to determine why some 
chambers of a PFD fail to inflate.

The Board also deliberated another Hawaii air tour 
helicopter accident report earlier today, in which the Heli-
USA Airways accident was cited to support recommendations 
addressing local weather training for newly hired Hawaii air 
tour pilots, air tour operational practices, FAA 
surveillance of air tour operators, and flight tracking and 
on-board weather technology for Hawaii air tour aircraft.

A synopsis of the Board's report, including the probable 
cause and safety recommendations, is available on the 
Board's Web site, www.ntsb.gov, under "Board Meetings."  The 
Board's full report will be available on the Web site in 
several weeks.
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NTSB Public Affairs:  Paul Schlamm (202) 314-6100


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