Helicopter Makes Hard Landing Near Hilo Airport

[kalakoa]

quote:

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Originally posted by 4dognight

Grounded, maybe an hour or so. Had 2 fly out here at 4:45 and another 3 at 5:30. Never ends.

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Just think of all the economic stimulus: those tourists pay GET (to the State) and TAT (to the State) and cruise tickets (to whatever country that ship is flagged with).

Oh, wait...

[MarkP]

I'm not making any excuses for the pilot. Running out of fuel is one of the worst things you can do in the eyes of the FAA. It is the one thing that you can never claim was beyond your control. It is a legal requirement for a cross country flight that you have enough fuel to fly to your primary destination, then to an alternate destination, then for 1/2 hr after that. Obviously this guy didn't have that much.

Nevertheless I am at a loss as to the general sense of outrage. People are reacting as though this is the latest in a string of accidents. It is not. People are reacting as though this was a close call as far as crashing into a house. Not so much. I have already addressed the issue of aircraft, particularly helicopters, flying over town and the likely hood of crashes into buildings. I am not saying it is impossible but being a pilot and flying regularly into Hilo I can tell you there are a fair number of parks and open areas in which a helicopter can crash land without it being a schoolroom full of children, and that includes a few schoolyards. This is because a helicopter, despite its lousy glide ratio, has a pretty good view of what is available space-wise and can and will maneuver right up until the end to avoid the houses. It is of course not impossible that a helicopter could crash into a classroom taking dozens of lives but probability-wise it is very, very far down the list. You should worry at least as much about a school-bus accident taking dozens of lives. I object to invoking safety out of proportion to the actual risk in an attempt to further an agenda that many people have made clear is really about noise.

[kalakoa]

quote:

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Originally posted by MarkP

I object to invoking safety out of proportion to the actual risk in an attempt to further an agenda that many people have made clear is really about noise.

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Sadly, this is "best use of available tools", as the noise issue is silently ignored.

[Greg]

As a former rotary wing pilot I feel compelled to comment.

This incident is the result of both the Pilot's extremely bad judgement, and the CEO of the tour company, for fostering attitudes that allowed it to happen.

Even with the successful auto-rotation(everyone walked away); this person would have been kicked out of US Army flight school.

[rainyjim]

quote:

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Originally posted by kalakoa


Sadly, this is "best use of available tools", as the noise issue is silently ignored.

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Sorry, Mark, but fair is as fair does!

...

Yes, for a score of kingdoms
You should wrangle,
And I would call it, fair play

...

[dragon2k]

I hope there is some form of license suspension for the pilot.

[Kapohocat]

My hubby said that the pilot would typically lose his ticket all together. But maybe there was some extenuating circumstances.

[dragon2k]

I hope hubby is right!