US safety board says new FAA regulation would not have prevented sightseeing crashes
US National Transportation Safety Board investigators say new Federal Aviation Administration rules for air tour operators, released last week, would not have prevented at least two recent fatal sightseeing crashes - the type of accidents the rule, as originally designed, was meant to avert.
The assessment came during a 13 February public hearing into two accidents that took place in Hawaii: a Bell 206B operated by Bali Hai Helicopter Tours on 24 September 2004 under Part 91 rules and a Eurocopter AS350BA operated by Heli-USA Airways on 23 September 2005 operating under Part 135 rules.
The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the Bell 206B accident was the pilot's spatial disorientation, followed by loss of control, after entering instrument flight conditions. The pilot and four tour customers were killed when the helicopter flew into steep terrain on a mountainside on the island of Kauai.
The AS350BA crashed into the ocean near Haena, Hawaii, after encountering severe weather conditions, including what investigators say was a microburst. The helicopter hit the water on its skids, then rolled to the right and started sinking. Three passengers drowned in the accident the pilot and two other passengers survived.
Investigators cited inexperience with local weather as a contributing factor in the Bali Hai crash, and lack of FAA oversight to enforce a special air tour rule that the agency had put in place for Hawaii.
Issued as an emergency final rule in 1994 after a series of fatal air tour accidents, the special air tour regulation called for pilots to maintain certain minimum altitudes, pass annual check rides and give pre-flight safety briefings to passengers, among other safety measures.
The NTSB published a special report on air tour operator accidents in 1995, requesting that the FAA go even further by developing a new comprehensive rule to bring all air tour operators up to standards similar to Part 135 operators, where the FAA has more significant oversight on flight operations and maintenance.
The FAA proposed a rule in 2003 that the NTSB favoured, but it was unpopular with the industry.
The air tour final rule, published 8 February, "differed substantially" from the original based on public comments, according to the FAA. Left in place was an exception that allows Part 91 operators to continue to fly commercial tours with less oversight than Part 135 companies, providing the flights do not venture more than 40km (22nm) in radius from the departure point.
In addition, the final rule, referred to as Part 136, does not include an NTSB request that all tour operators flying over water have permanent or inflatable floats on their aircraft. Instead, the rule requires floats only when the aircraft is not within gliding distance of land.
Investigators in the Heli-USA hearing testified that all of the passengers would have been able to don their personal flotation devices and evacuate the aircraft before it sank.
The probable causes of that accident included the pilot's decision to fly into the adverse weather and lack of safety equipment.
Source: Flight International
