the Airbus AS350 B2 operated by Safari Aviation collided with a steep, wooded slope, killing the pilot and all six passengers. [Courtesy: NTSB]
Key Takeaways:
The NTSB primarily attributed the 2019 Hawaii air tour helicopter crash to the FAA's delayed installation of crucial weather cameras and insufficient oversight of tour operations, which could have alerted the pilot to dangerous conditions.
Additional contributing factors included the pilot's decision to fly into instrument meteorological conditions, the operator's lack of a safety management system (SMS), and inadequate pilot training for in-flight weather hazards.
The NTSB reiterated past recommendations for the FAA to mandate flight data recorders, enforce SMS protocols, require all paid-passenger flights to adhere to Part 135 regulations, and install more weather-reporting equipment to prevent future "preventable tragedies."
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says the FAA is partially to blame for the 2019 fatal accident involving an air tour helicopter in Hawaii.
The NTSB suggests if the FAA had not delayed the installation of weather cameras in the region, the pilot might have been alerted to dangerous conditions and not continued the flight into deteriorating weather.
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Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.
