Busted!

July 13, 2006 | In Helicopters |

The Garden Island newspaper had a front page story yesterday about the state Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) warning Inter-Island Helicopter to stop illegal landings. In another example of helicopter companies flaunting the laws, they are advertising the tour on their website, and DLNR staff found a clearing and “temporary” structures to provide shade in the Moloa’a Forest Reserve, both presumably illegal. The DLNR adds that permits are needed for landings in state managed lands, though it’s likely they wouldn’t be granted for quasi-wilderness areas such as the remote forest reserves.

Inter-Island Helicopters are the bad boys of the Kauai helicopter industry. They don’t have the sleek modern helicopter fleet that most other operators have, but they were the first to fly with the doors off, which many people found thrilling. They fly out of Port Allen airport, where they have a bunch of makeshift offices and structures with questionable permits (scroll down on the linked page). However, they are not just a tourist ride, their utilitarian choppers and skilled pilots are contracted by the county for mountain rescue and fire fighting. The owner’s son perished in an accident last Christmas while refilling a fire-fighting bucket at a reservoir near Lihue.

But the competition in the industry is driving operators to seek new thrills to sell, and remote waterfalls and forests are easy targets. One of the Robinson Family members recently applied to the planning commission for a landing permit, saying that their Niihau helicopters would stop at a botanical reserve that they own in the hills above Hanapepe. At the hearing, it turned out that another company with far more flights wanted to share the landing permit and that the location happens to be in the Jurassic Park movie.

Helicopters used to fly tourists to the Kalalau valley for the day, and I’m not sure when that stopped or why. But between the noise impact and the danger of spreading invasive species, it’s easy to see why landings are undesireable. What’s clear is that the operators are looking for new products, and allowing landings for one will make them all feel entitled, resulting in more flights and more nuisance for residents, hikers, and wildlife.