M_J

We will be spending three nights at a B&B in Volcano (thus, we could take a helicopter out of Hilo) and then we are spending three nights at Waikoloa Hilton. We would like your suggestions about what helicopter tours you took, the pros and cons, and suggestions.
THanks

mauigirl50

The only helicopter company I've used on the BI & Maui, is Blue Hawaiian. A few weeks before I left, I made a list of companies & then called them to ask questions. The staff at Blue Hawaiian was the most friendly & helpful, so I booked with them. I have no complaints with either of the tours I took with them.

ANTS430

We also took the Blue Hawaiian helicopter tour over the volcano out of Hilo. We enjoyed the flight very much and especially enjoy the video of the flight that you can purchase for $20 once you get back to the airport. Now we can relive the flight any time.

jacketwatch

We used tropical tours and were pleased. The tours from the Hilo side are less expensive than from the Kona side BTW. We stayed at the Wailoloa Marriot across from which are the Kings shops. I suggest Roys there for wonderful dining. Aloha!

Spygirl

All helicopter tour companies operating out of the Big Island are closely regulated (and I do mean closely!) by the FAA-so in terms of safety, there is no one company that is "safer" than the others-they all must meet the same regulatory standards.

Rusty

Spygirl, how do you know how closely the FAA regulates helicoptor tours? The FAA may "closely regulate" helicoptor tours, but they does not mean that regulations are "closely enforced" or "closely followed".

And just because all tour companies are subject to the same regulations does not mean that they all do an equally good job of meeting those regulations.

Do you know how many helicoptor crashes there have been in Hawaii in recent years?

Spygirl

I sure do.

Rusty

Then you know that helicoptor tour companies in Hawaii do not have a good safety record?

Spygirl

No. I know what I stated in my previous post is correct.

Rusty

Are you suggesting that helicopter tours in Hawaii have a good safety record? This is not accurate and is not supportable by the facts.

Spygirl

Rusty-if you are interested in this matter, I recommend that you put in "SFAR 71" in the search engine, where you should turn up the final rule issued by FAA in Oct. 2003 for Hawaii air tour operators. There's an exceedingly detailed discussion there of the type of regulation the FAA requires of the companies in question.

If they don't follow the regulations, they face enforcement action.

Spygirl

Addendum: up to, and including immediate revocation of their operating certificate.

jacketwatch

To spygirl: Rusty is very trollish at times, most of the time really so don't get caught up in these little games he plays. Just an FYI. I would say something to Rusty but its useless.

Spygirl

Who knows, Jacketwatch? Maybe Rusty will actually read it and learn something about the issues!

circa2

Hang in there Spygirl!!!
You keep the facts straight...it's for others to decide if they want to use them.

Sort of like our own version of "Hannity and Colmes" here at Fodors.

Hummm...."Spygirl and the Facts"

Keep'em comin'...I enjoy the hell out of your posts!

Rusty

Thanks, Spygirl. I read SFAR 71. Great regulations. I do not disagree with what you have stated, that is, that the helicopter tour industry is heavily regulated. However, in spite of the regulations the industry has a very high rate of fatal accidents no matter how you want to measure it (deaths per number of flights, deaths per passenger miles). If you are interested not only in the regulations but also the effectiveness of the regulations then I suggest that you go to the Nationl Transportation Safety Board data base at this web site:
http://www2.ntsb.gov/ntsb/query.asp#query_start

If you do a search for fatal helicopter crashes in Hawaii you will find that there have been 17 since 1990. If ANY airline had such a fatal crash rate nobody would fly that airline.

The following are some of the crashes:

? July 23, 2003: A Jack Harter Helicopters Bell 206B crashes at Mount Wai'ale'ale, Kaua'i, killing five.

? June 15, 2003: Three tourists and a pilot are killed when a Tropical Helicopters Hughes 500 crashes in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island. The cause remains under investigation.

? Aug. 25, 2000: A Big Island Air Piper Chieftain plane ditches in the ocean off Hilo. The pilot and seven passengers survive, one passenger dies. The NTSB cites loss of engine power and an engine fire.

? July 21, 2000: A Blue Hawaiian Tours helicopter crashes in Iao Valley on Maui, killing seven. The NTSB cites pilot error for flying into cloudy weather.

? Sept. 25, 1999: A Big Island Air Piper Chieftain plane crashes on the slopes of Mauna Loa on the Big Island, killing all 10 aboard. The NTSB cites pilot error for flying into bad weather, improper navigation and disregard for standard operating procedures.

? June 25, 1998: A Eurocopter aircraft operated by 'Ohana Helicopters smashes into a mountainside at Mount Wai'ale'ale, Kaua'i, killing six. The NTSB cites pilot error for flying into bad weather.

? July 14, 1994: A Papillon Helicopters Aerospatiale Astar crashes into the ocean off Kaua'i's Na Pali Coast, killing three of seven people aboard. The NTSB cites engine failure.

? April 18, 1994: An Interisland Helicopters craft crashes near Hanapepe Valley on Kaua'i, killing one and injuring four. The NTSB cites engine failure.

? Jan. 25, 1993: A Kainoa Aviation Hilleer 1100 helicopter plunges into the ocean off Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island. The pilot survives but four passengers are killed. The NTSB cites loss of tail rotor control.

? Sept. 16, 1992: A Hawai'i Helicopters Aerospatiale Astar slams into the southern slope of Haleakala on Maui, killing seven. The NTSB cites pilot error for flying into bad weather.

? April 22, 1992: All nine aboard a Scenic Air Tours Beech E18S plane die in a crash near Haleakala Crater. The NTSB cites pilot error for flying into bad weather.

ChristieP

We did an air tour with Mokulele Flight Service instead of a helicopter tour (Mom gets motion sick on helicopters). It was half the price, and we really enjoyed it!

jacketwatch

I wonder why Rusty didn't list crashes going back even further? . It seems one just can't disagree with him. He always has to get in the last word I guess. Actually Spygirl he just doesn't get the big picture IMHO.

Meesthare

I've mentioned this before on previous threads, but perhaps it bears repeating. I should acknowledge that I don't know how accurate this information is, and I have a lot of respect for Spygirl's expertise. However: a few years ago I went up to the summit of Mauna Kea with one of the tour operators. The driver was a local guy who had lots of helpful information for us. One of the things he told us was that there were a lot of helicopter crashes on the BI. Most of them were not fatal but they were certainly scary for the people involved. His explanation was that volcanic gases interfere with the internal combustion engines on the helicopters. He said the pilots trained mostly in California where there are no active volcanoes, and while they were very competent, they would not be able to prevent the complications ensuing from encountering volcanic gases. His advice was not to take helicopter trips over the volcano. Subsequently one of my colleagues said she had seen a news show that presented essentially the same information and came to the same conclusion.

DawnCt

In 1998 we were in the concierge room with an FAA employee who said that they that had grounded all of the helicopter tours (I forgot what year) for non compliance with maintainance. He said at that time, "they are better now but I still wouldn't fly in them. The concierge girl chimed in with her opinion. She said that her father was in law enforcement on Kauai and has to ride in government helicopters as part of his job and that those are very well maintained and he still doesn't think that they are safe due to the different weather systems, up and down drafts dictated by the volcanos and mountains. She said, knowing what she knows, she would never get in any of them.