Information on Hawaii helicopter crashes from a pilot

[Sammy]

I sent my son, who flies Apache helicopters, the links in the previous post about the recent Kauai helicopter fatal crash. He has the know-how to research and interpret the NTSB and FAA information.

 

I asked if he would provide some insight and some advice on how one would go about researching a company's credentials and safety record and chose a company. Chris sent a very detailed response. I will just hit on what I consider the highlights and observations.

 

Chris found that in the past 5 yrs and 10 mos, there have been 13 accidents in Hawaii, only 3 of which were fatal. This is relatively small, when put in perspective. There were 2 areas of fault in these 13 - mechanical and pilot error (surprise):

5 were proven mechanical problems and the remainder are, or are, suspected pilot errors. Of the 3 fatalities, 1 was mechanical; 1 was very certainly pilot error; the third is suspected pilot error.

Of the 5 due to mechanical/maintenance problems, 4 were either older aircraft or suspected older aircraft. With the N-number search (which he didn't do), one can determine the year the helicopter was built. The link to do that is:

http://162.58.35.241/acdatabase/acmain.htm

Chris goes on to point out that it's not necessarily true that older aircraft are unsafe, it's just that they require more maintenance in especially high-use aircraft and this introduces more room for human error.

 

Chris basically says to search for an operator that appears well-organized and more "corporate". Check for ones with a newer fleet (MD or Hughes 369's, many Bell 206's, and some AS 350's are older). Use the link above.

 

He places equally high importance in looking for an experienced conservative pilot. One way would be to call and say you'd like to speak with the pilot you spoke with (or flew with) before. You can't remember his name but he has the most hours flying on the islands and he seemed very conservative to you. Pick a name that comes up.

 

The second way is not practical for us but it's the way he would do it: show up, play like you're just there to watch, get to talking with one of the waiting pilots or ground personnel. Find out who the conservative high-time pilot is and make reservations with him. Okay, like I said, you have to be an airport junkie like my son is to do that.

 

Chris is a fixed wing pilot also who had about 800 hrs and credentials on several aircraft before entering the Army. He flew gliders and towed gliders commercially as well. He was 1st in his class in flight school, getting to choose the sole Apache slot. We have no way of judging how good a pilot he is but the owner of the Soaring Airport only sends his kid up with Chris and the Army thinks he's pretty good. We hear how careful he is.

 

Perhaps he's been able to help a few of us cruise junkies do more effective research in planning our fun!

 

Sammy;)

[RvrCrzr]

Thanks for the info Sammy!

[spleen93]

Great research, Sammy! Say thanks to your son for us!

 

Spleen

[beachgal]

Thanks for taking the time to do this, Sammy! I did go to NTSB to get the info., but this helps clarifying it!