"It's up to the helicopter operator and the authorities, they have to find safe ways".
You are quite right tec, everyone is attempting to distance themselves from any culpability in this tragedy - now that was predictable, wasn't it. This comes back to the point I was initially trying to make - the responsibility truly, ultimately, lies with the helicopter operator. And lets emphasise again, it is a limitation on external load operations ONLY, not a limitation on helicopter operations overall.
Of course as one of the helicopter customers, they are the one of the businesses driving the operations, so they should get on board right away to ensure they are represented in the process to resolve this issue. They may not like the outcome otherwise. I would love to read the safety regulations controlling the Austrian cable car operators - anyone got a copy?
TC, you have the irony of this circumstance identified entirely. This will cost someone millions, maybe even their business and career. More ironic, is that it was
entirely preventable. It cost 9 innocent victims their lives.
I also want to go back and address another elemental portion of a basic helicopter external load operation. The mechanism to orchestrate and effectively plan a safe operation are actually very simple. It is easy to stage external loads from an area immediately adjacent to the work site. It is (relatively) easy to organise the closing of streets; or controlling traffic; vacating buildings - or affected floors; restricting public access, or shutting down a cable car for a brief period of time. It is simply a part of doing business safely.
The reaction of many posters seems to focus on restricting all helicopter movements, or creating some huge issue of closing entire cities. External loads are flown the shortest distance, minimizing the exposure of the operator and the public from any danger of a dropped load. Helicopter access to the staging area is accomplished without external loads. Incidentally, we treat an empty long line in the exact same manner as a 10,000 pound external load! Safety is easy, practical and essential. There is no alternative way of doing this. The affected area is minimal, and the inconvenience is insignificant and far preferred to the alternatives. Accidents may still occur, but their impact and effect are minimized through an effective and conscious approach and strategy toward safety.
TC, you have summed it up entirely - the cheapest, and more importantly - safest, option was to close the cable car for the duration of the operation. Some agreeable means could be negotiated, to ensure the interests of everyone were addressed. If they couldn't be negotiated, then the job won't happen. The cost in this instance will never be measured in monetary terms, it is measured by the loss of innocent human lives.
I understand that there is a possibility that there may be no breach of any regulations in this specific instance. However, under the regulatory system I work under, if I failed to observe the regulatory structure, I would be subject to FAA sanction including and up to revocation of my operating certificates and personal licenses; massive OSHA fines, sanctions and audits - which could include jail time; charges from local and federal law enforcement - which could include fines and jail time; cancellation of all my insurance policies, plus sky-high renewals if I were even able to get insurance in the future; and law suits lasting years, that could bankrupt my business, myself and everyone and anyone associated with that particular operation.
Strangely enough, that combination has made even the most dubious operator pay serious attention to safety, (well, most all of them)
!