One Dead In Second Hawaiian Chopper Crash
Another sightseeing helicopter crash on Kauai killed one passenger Sunday, just miles from a tour helicopter accident four days earlier that killed four, authorities say.
Three other people on the flight were in critical condition Sunday evening, said Wilcox Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Lani Yukimura.
The crash occurred at about 1 p.m., after the pilot heard a loud bang and then lost control of the aircraft while trying to land in Haena on the island's north shore, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said in an e-mail.
"It didn't look like the blade was spinning, and the body of the helicopter was spiraling," said Rob Zelkowsky, who witnessed the crash, on CBS affiliate KGMB-TV. "The whole body was spiraling and spiraling and the helicopter itself was going in one direction, which is straight downward. It looked helpless and, you know, something that I realize it would be hard for it to come out of."
The Hughes 500 helicopter, owned by Smoky Mountain Helicopters Inc., then struck some trees with its main rotor blade, Gregor said. The company operates in Kauai as Inter-Island Helicopters.
"When the pilot got out, all the victims were conscious and OK, but it appeared that the one gentleman was pale and I believe he possibly had a heart attack," Inter-Island Helicopters owner Ken D'Attilio told KGMB.
Two of the injured passengers were flown from Wilcox Memorial to The Queen's Medical Center on Oahu, Yukimura said. A fifth person from the helicopter was treated and released. FAA officials initially reported that the pilot wasn't injured.
D'Attilio believes the chopper hit a bird halfway through its helicopter tour, which he says is the only explanation he can think of for the chopper's missing tail rotor.
The pilot "told me that he heard a loud bang and that he had no response from the pedals and from there, he was just trying to find a place to put the aircraft down," said D'Attilio.
The crash occurred on Tunnels Beach in Haena, right next to Camp Naue, the YMCA on Kauai, where children were playing. There was a memorial service under way on the beach. D'Attilio told
"The thing was chopped, busted up all over, all in the pieces," said another witness.
The scenic, circular island has experienced a series of crashes in recent years, raising safety concerns and leading to tougher standards and monitoring of tour operators across the country.
A Heli-USA Airways tour helicopter crashed on Thursday at Princeville Airport, killing the pilot and three passengers and injuring three others.
It was the fifth tour helicopter crash on the island in less than four years, killing a total of 18 people.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board were on the island continuing their inspection of Thursday's crash. The A-Star helicopter went down shortly after its pilot radioed that he was having problems with the hydraulics.
A recent NTSB review of eight weather-related tour helicopter crashes in Hawaii since 1994 found half of the pilots were "relatively new" to flying in the state, with three operating for less than two months. They were also inexperienced in assessing local weather conditions, which change rapidly.
Gregor said the pilot in Sunday's crash is 30 years old and was licensed to fly in bad weather.
The safety board last month made several recommendations to the FAA, including increasing surveillance of air tour operators, their maintenance policies and flight scheduling procedures.