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+--- Thread: Helicopter Offshore Petition (/showthread.php?tid=18520)
Helicopter Offshore Petition - Ino - 06-24-2017
If you or your neighbor, family or friend is bothered by helicopter over flights over our homes. Please consider signing http://hicop.org/ ‘s Petition.
Check out the comments;
https://www.change.org/p/us-senator-schatz-and-hirono-and-us-representative-gabbard-and-hanabusa-require-hawaii-island-helicopter-air-tours-to-fly-offshore
Mahalo
Hicop.org
RE: Helicopter Offshore Petition - MarkD - 06-24-2017
These machines are a plague in several parts of Hawaii. Spoke to several visitors recently who commented on how their Kalakaua hike (on Kauai) was marred by the frequent helicopters. Here is apt comment from a blogger:
"If anything diminishes the Na Pali coast compared to some other iconic wilderness trails it would be the unnerving sound of the barrage of helicopters that traverse the coast during peak hours. (They) diminishes the experience for tourists on the ground...Unfortunately, the draw of tourist dollars may be too much to force...change..."
Last comment, unfortunately, might have some truth. In a Punatalk discussion of helicopters some time ago, a surprising number of posters saw no problem with helicopter tours, I recall. They viewed any controls as an unwarranted infringement on business. The fact that these machines distress and annoy people underneath them was of no consequence to these folks.
Cannot fathom that perspective....
RE: Helicopter Offshore Petition - kalakoa - 06-24-2017
HICOP is also using the "contested case" mechanism:
http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/topnews/coalition-challenge-helicopter-parking-permit
If the FAA was to require tour companies to fly only over the ocean, Scott said, "some operators may have to go out of business."
"Our firm alone, we employ over 100 families on the Big Island," he said.
Cost of the additional flight time would be borne by customers, he said, and that likely would leave some current customers unable to afford the flights.
Asking the State to interfere with a job creator/taxable revenue source worked out just fine for TMT, so getting the helicopters shut down should be no problem.
RE: Helicopter Offshore Petition - Ino - 06-24-2017
Thank you for those that support our cause. Kalakoa refers to the Front page article in the Hilo Tribune-Herald 6-23-17 paper. In it Scott says that the companies operate on “thin margins” of profit.
Last year Air Methods which owns Blue Hawaiian Helicopters made $450 million dollars gross profit. $162 million in pre-tax income;
https://amigobulls.com/stocks/AIRM/income-statement/annual?t=ibc
They claim they can’t afford the fuel to fly offshore!
For people on the fence you should also realize that they Do Not Pay GET tax on their passengers here- you know that tax we all pay on everything here;
http://files.hawaii.gov/tax/legal/tir/1963_89/tir89-10.pdf
We thought about doing fundraisers for this fuel but we would have to pay GET on any funds raised.
I don’t think they’ll go broke if they take the slightly longer route to get to your National Park.
RE: Helicopter Offshore Petition - TomK - 06-24-2017
Thanks, Ino. I'm sure people will sign the petition if they agree with it and we don't need to go into a discussion about what people have said in the past.
I am curious, however. Have any of the helicopter tour companies actually said how much extra fuel is required to operate offshore compared to their current routes and how much that will cost? I haven't seen any numbers.
RE: Helicopter Offshore Petition - Amrita - 06-24-2017
Whenever I sign something I suddenly get a barrage of donation requests. This appears to be that kind of thing. So rarely even if I agree strongly as I do in this case will I give out my email address. Used to be able to sign and be done with it.
RE: Helicopter Offshore Petition - Obie - 06-24-2017
"Last year Air Methods which owns Blue Hawaiian Helicopters made $450 million dollars gross profit. $162 million in pre-tax income;
https://amigobulls.com/stocks/AIRM/income-statement/annual?t=ibc"
They also paid $62 million in taxes.
RE: Helicopter Offshore Petition - leilanidude - 06-24-2017
Will forcing them to fly over the ocean make it so that more people hear the helicopters than do now? Not only does the sound carry further over water than over forested areas, more people live near the coast than in some of the remote subdivisions that they fly over now.
RE: Helicopter Offshore Petition - leilanidude - 06-25-2017
Obie, you beat me to it... (should add that "gross profit" is a very misleading amount)
I highly doubt that the small tour division of the company makes much profit. In fact, Air Methods overall profit margin was so small that they were forced into a sale of the company this spring. They are now owned by a private equity firm.
It should be mentioned that Air Methods main business is the medical air transport of patients, NOT tours. They operate medical air transport in 48 states. and claim to have served over 100,000 patients in 2016.
Blue Hawaiian also operates the most expensive, quietest tour helicopters on the island...
RE: Helicopter Offshore Petition - Obie - 06-25-2017
The total revenue from tourism was $127,866,000 the net income was $10,332,000.They also operate from LAS to the Grand Canyon.