Busted!

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.

Things Heat Up

It may be springtime, but I’m not talking about the weather for once. The Garden Island newspaper published my second letter to the editor about helicopters in response to the two replies I triggered. It’s in good company with letters by the wacky Peter Saker and the esteemed Ray Chuan.

I was hoping to see more people write in support of my position, but I guess it’s not a big issue for those living here. The letter-writer who started it all did write again to also say that those who replied to insult me and belittle him missed the point.

It also took me a while to reply because this was one of the hardest pieces I’ve had to write recently. I had to refute their empty statements, provide new information, respond to insults, research the facts to avoid slander, and try to keep it snappy and short. I think I succeeded on all counts except for the shortness.

So far I’m 2 for 2 in published letters, but I wonder when the editor will get tired of the debate. Here are all the letters in this “thread” so far:

1. March 31, Mr Becker witnesses unsafe flying.
2. April 2, Mr Christensen’s hollow reply for Jack Harter.
3. April 9, my first letter denoucing his attitude.
4. April 12, Mr Myers of Safari Helicopters and Mr Smith, a pilot, don’t add anything
5. April 15, Mr Becker is disappointed with their replies.
6. April 26, my second letter asks operators some tough questions.

Ruffled Feathers

It seems like my letter in the newspaper provoked some response from the helicopter industry. Today’s newspaper has two letters on the subject, one from Safari Helicopters justifying their lawsuit against the safety measures, and another from a pilot who says I don’t know what I’m talking about and calls me names. I will refrain from commenting here until the discussion in the newspaper dies out.

Also, I updated my previous post on this subject with a link to my copy of Jack Harter’s old website.

Letter to the Editor

My first letter to the editor, entitled “Helicopter industry is not God’s gift to Kaua’i,” was published in today’s Garden Island newspaper, here is the link. The letters published in the Garden Island are very popular on the island, my wife says they are the best part of the paper. There are ongoing discussions about national and local issues, as well as some good government watchdogs and suggestions for improving life on Kaua’i (many centered around stopping development).

Ever since I’ve been hiking on Kaua’i, I’ve wanted to confront the helicopter industry about it’s unsafe practices and warn the public, especially tourists, about the danger. Not being a confrontational person, nor really having the time to launch a campaign, I never did more than report on accidents here. The local Sierra Club has an old web page about responsible helicopter tourism, but when I contacted them, they said they were no longer active on the topic.

The debate began last week when one of the operators defended the helicopter industry in a letter to the editor, and I felt their spin could not go unopposed. Their false excuses show they are more committed to booking customers than to safety or customer experience. It all started when someone else wrote about their unsafe flying in Waimea Canyon during the recent rainy weather with low clouds.

Writing my letter took a bit of research because although a lot of information is on the internet, it’s hard to interpret the legal documents. I ended up talking to an FAA investigator on Oahu who gave me all the details about the altitude limits in practice and in plain language. When I asked him if people should be reporting low-flying helicoters to his office, he said it would be a good thing to have more incident reports. He said it is best if you can photograph or film the incident and record the tail number of the aircraft. You should also note the time, date, and accurate location (look on topozone.com or email me and I can help). The phone number for the FAA flight standards office on Oahu is 808-837-8300 (press 0 to speak to the operator and ask to file a report).

PS: Someone has already told me that it’s not “undefendable” but “indefensible,” I can’t believe I didn’t catch that.

Update 4/12/2006: I forgot to include the link to the old Jack Harter website that I mention in the letter to the editor. When I saw it, I saved a copy of the files, and indeed it changed soon thereafter to its present form (oddly, it looks like he didn’t get jackharter.com).

An Unsafe Industry

The investigation into the last helicopter crash is progressing with some twists and turns. While the investigators were originally cautious not to rule out any mechanical malfunction, the investigation is now centered on pilot error, some conflicting accounts of the accident, and some blame.

Except for having a surviving pilot trying to shed the blame, the situation is very similar to last year’s fatal crash. In that case, the pilot who was also 2 months-new to Kauai flew into severe weather and crashed in to a mountain. Neither pilot was certified for IFR (Instrument Flight Rules), which give the training and experience to handle low-visibility weather conditions. For some reason not yet reported on, neither pilot chose not to avoid the clouds or the rain, which is feasible with our localized weather. I suspect the pressure to complete full tours and not interrupt the “rotation” (sequence of tours) had something to do with it.

In researching the record of helicopter accidents, I found all the data readily available from the National Transportation Safety Bureau. I have put the information into the table below, but the summary for Kauai is that there was a fatal crash in clear weather into a mountainside in 2003, and another in bad weather with an inexperienced pilot in 1998.

Unfortunately, the factual and probable cause reports aren’t finalized until 1 to 3 years after the preliminary report. So we’ll have to wait for the final word. However, the undisputed fact is that an average of more than 4 people every year die in helicopter accidents on Kauai recently, a much worse figure than on any of the other islands. I don’t have the number of annual helicopter passengers, but knowing that the same tourists also drive rental cars and have less fatalities in traffic, I can assert that it is much safer to see Kauai by car.

Update: Added preliminary NTSB report for latest accident and company names to the table.