FAA Faces Audit of Helicopter Tour Oversight

Transportation Department’s Office of Inspector General cites the April 2025 crash of a sightseeing helicopter in the Hudson River.

Jack Daleo

Wednesday, November 04, 2026 at 12:00 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

OIG cites the April 2025 crash of a Bell 206 helicopter, similar to the one above, in its announcement of the audit. [Credit: Shutterstock]

Key Takeaways:

The U.S. Transportation's Office of Inspector General (OIG) is auditing the FAA's safety oversight of aerial helicopter tours, citing longstanding concerns and a history of crashes, including a recent fatal one in April 2025.
A primary focus of the audit is investigating a "loophole" that allegedly allows some helicopter tour operations to follow less stringent Part 91 safety standards, intended for private flights, instead of the more rigorous commercial Part 136 rules.
The audit was prompted by congressional requests and follows previous warnings from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) urging the FAA to close this loophole, notably after a 2018 fatal helicopter crash.

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The U.S. Transportation’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) plans to audit the FAA’s safety oversight of aerial helicopter tours this month.

According to an announcement Tuesday, the audit will focus in part on the FAA’s awareness of a “loophole” that permits certain helicopter flights to be operated under standards less stringent than those intended for Part 136 operations. The work will be conducted at the agency’s headquarters as well as certain Flight Standards District Offices (FSDOs), which are responsible for overseeing the multimillion-dollar commercial helicopter air tour industry.