Helicopter down off Hawaiian island
 

Washington Post report

Quote:

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Helicopter Crashes Into Ocean Off Kauai

LIHUE, Hawaii

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...aii_island.jpg

Here are more details from another site

From Kauai

Sad story that wont end anytime soon. One item that hits home to me is the fact that a lot of these folks fly over water "legally" but for the most part know that if they go in the water, someone is not going home.
I think more than one person in this incident perished. No mention of that here yet.
Anyway the FAA states the rules in Part 135.183 regarding operations. The carrier in this case was I believe operating under part 135, Im sure that will be manipulated down the road.. The little ditty in this rule states that "it is operated at an altitude that allows it to reach land in case of an engine failure."
All well and good 99% of the time. Although Im sure there are some areas where this gets stretched a bit based on a coastline with no beach in places.
Anyway as the rumor mill drifts on, this particular incident had other factors ie. inclement weather and the possibility of another aircraft in the vicinity which could have added pressure to someone heading for the beach in compliance to part 135.
As a guesstimate the weather alone could have placed the aircraft out of the envelope as required. Another Aircraft just adding to the problem.
As nothing formal has come out, let alone the totality of the accident all the above is speculation. Folks love to jump on speculation........
Bottom line and the main point is not about the accident but the fact that a lot of operators hang their wallets on not purchasing pop-outs based on the fact that the "99% of the time" will keep them out of trouble. Heres a good example of the 1% thats cost lives and a ton more than a good set of floatation devices on the skids.
This could happen to ANY of the operators. bad fortune just placed it in the laps of one.
The Buzzards in the legal profession are already landing on the fence.

As of Monday 9/26 it appears a total of three perished in this accident. It is also extremely surprising that none of the folks in the Hawaii tour business have commented as they usuaully do regarding another operator. Could be they all feel a bit of guilt as most all are wearing the same shoes.

I can not address this specific accident, but along some of the Kauai coastline there are no beaches, helispots, meadows, other other suitable places to put a helo.

I flew out of Barking Sands for a while (with floats) and you would be hard pressed to find a place to land along the Napali Cliffs in the event of an engine failure.

Yes, until the FAA says so, most operators will not install floats or purchase twins on Kauai.

http://www.wingsoverkauai.com/slides...ainbow-450.jpg

Check 6,

I beg to differ....I flew tours on Kauai for seven years. There are numerous landing areas along the Napali coast including the mile long Kalalau beach, which has a helipad for two helicopters, Honopu beach and many others. I have landed at the beaches numerous times. All of the landing areas have been approved by the FAA. There are even emergency helipads in the valleys in your picture---I have pictures of them on my other computer which I will try to post tonight.

http://weddingvideoflorida.com/images/fw1058.jpg

To give an idea of size, this is Honopu beaches, the left beach is about 1000 feet long.



http://weddingvideoflorida.com/images/fw1003.jpg



http://weddingvideoflorida.com/images/fw1052.jpg
This is Kee Beach within half a mile of the accident.

Gordy, poor use of words on my part. I meant to say "autorotate" to. Those beaches would be fine if you happened to be over them when your donk caughed.

Check 6

Why the talk about engine failures? This is about wind shear.
Wind shear? There is more to this story than what is being said.

Check 6,
I agree some of the areas would be tough to autorotate to, especially in the valleys. However, Kalalau, Honopu, Hanakapiai (in the summer), and Kee should not present a major chalenge. Having just recently left Kauai, I do know that the weather is extremely "dynamic". I will not speculate as to this accident, or make observations relating to a specific company. In general, weather issues rear their head all day long and decisions have to be made. Most times pilots have a hard time making them----fly through a rain shower with reduced visibility and land on time----or----turn around and add an extra minutes, (as many as 30 depending upon where you encounter the rain), onto your tour length and suffer the wrath of the company.

Link:http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/ap...WS01/509260316


Another Link:http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/news...0441&qs=1;bp=t


Latest Link:http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2...ews/news02.txt

Fatal Accident Leads to Homicide Investigation
 

From the Associated Press.

“Prosecutors on Kauai have opened a homicide investigation into a tour helicopter crash that claimed the lives of three people in September.

Glen Lampton was the pilot of the Heli U-S-A Airways helicopter that crashed. He told investigators that just before the accident, he suddenly saw another helicopter coming straight for him, made a left turn to avoid an accident and encountered heavy rain.

Lampton's helicopter descended rapidly and crashed into the ocean along Kauai's North shore, leaving three of his passengers dead. He and two other passengers survived.”

Is this another “only in America” issue? I only hope that there is more to it than AP are telling us; or has the world gone crazy? What is the prosecutor’s angle? Perhaps an ‘inadvertent’, and therefore potentially negligent, entry into IMC with a consequent breach of the Visual Flight Rules being a primary cause of the accident?

Perhaps it is an example of just how, as pilots and mechanics, we now have to be extremely careful in everything we do so as not to leave ourselves open to criminal charges for manslaughter or homicide in the event of being involved in a fatal accident.

As many of us do not know what happened and can only guess based on what we hear or read in the Media, the above should be no surprise.
As Pilots we also should be able to read between the lines.
Since we have the title of "Rumor Network" anyone can take a guess as to what happened. As an example using the media Ok, lets GUESS........Non Instrument rated Pilot makes a sudden move in IMC, probably more than one would do in Instrument conditions. Where am I?? Aircraft is low. Splash. We assume there was another aircraft out there, so who was he and what is his side of the story??
As to the courtroom Drama, it sounds as if the Prosecutor is looking towards another Pilot as responsible versus the Pilot who crashed. Heres another twist. Some Prosecutor with maybe a little or no Helicopter experience is going to stick his nose in??Too many things to GUESS about in a serious matter like this. I think sit back and watch what happens would be better. Whatever the outcome one of US now has to live with this tradgedy for the rest of his life.

The last I read about this was that the surviving passengers didn't see another helicopter and the authorities were unable to establish the presence of another helicopter in the area.

But to investigate this as a homicide seems a bit harsh.

Hawaii Link

Here is a link to the article in the Honolulu advertiser.

Thanks for the link to the article. After seeing the picture everyone should be incredibly thankful that the pilot and one passenger survived. I'm sorry for the other losses but very glad that two made it out.

Little better than a raincoat
 

The picture shows, yet again, that the Eurocopter AS350 cabin design offers little more than rain protection to the people on board. There is next to no protection given by the canopy in the event of an accident.

One of the surreal images I have embossed in my memory is watching a vertical split open up in the canopy, from the bottom to the top, in the seconds after I made a forced landing on to a steep slope following the loss of the tail rotor (literally).

As has been mentioned in other threads some of the cabins on helicopters of other manufactures are more rigid and offer quite a lot of protection and improve the survivability of an accident.

Quote:

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Pilot who survived helicopter crash indicted

HONOLULU

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(Associated Press report)

Looking at the Kee Beach photograph....it does appear a very long way between beaches suitable for any kind of landing. It is not how many places there are to land....but if there is one available when you need it. I don't see that being the case in the Kee Beach photograph.

What do the beaches look like at High Tide? High and dry as in the photographs?

The FAR that says "in case of engine failure" explains the FAA mindset.....they ignore about a thousand other reasons one might find himself bobbin' in the oggin'.

Please to remember this is the exact same FAA that agreed with the airlines when they asked to remove life rafts from flights operating along the East Coast of the United States. They argued and the FAA accepted it being a statistical improbability that all three engines of a 727 would fail and thus life rafts on those overwater sectors were not needed (....more passengers could be carried I guess).

Two weeks later, an FE got the board confused, and managed to flame out all three engines. The crew managed to get the engines restarted but it was a close....close thing. The same FAA then decided rafts were a good thing for airliners.

Of course this is the same FAA that takes a hands off approach to the Gulf of Mexico Offshore Industry as well. How many deaths we see down there last year?

Forgive him Father...he knows not what he says!

;)


Now that the tirade is over....what do you really think Nick?

Maybe one of PPRuNe's ‘legal eagles’ could help out here.

Given a similar scenario, where a pilot is charged with manslaughter following the death of a passenger in an accident, what would the prosecutor have to prove to obtain a verdict of guilty against a pilot?

The NTSB Preliminary Report is now available. http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...03X01565&key=1