Helicopter Offshore Petition

[kalakoa]

or "bought in" to.... "cheapest land in Hawaii"

...which brings us right back to "mandatory disclosure", required for "residential" property but otherwise optional.

[My 2 cents]

The best suggestion by far is to relocate the heliport to a location closer to the viewing area. No one loses their job. Less flight time = less fuel = more money for the tour companies. It could easily be designed to be completely mobile, so it could actually be located WITHIN the viewing area. And it would completely satisfy the biggest issue, the noise. I can't think of a single negative to this.

I'll bet someone else can.

[kalakoa]

No one loses their job.

Shuttle bus to the new heliport would create jobs.

[PaulW]

Shuttling people out to the middle of nowhere would add at least an hour to the journey = less business, especially from cruise shippers.

[leilanidude]

People want to see the island from the air, not a bus.

[kalakoa]

Shuttling people out to the middle of nowhere

Lots of them are already shuttling around. This would just be another stop, like visiting one of those fake "Coffee Mill" operations.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

People want to see the island from the air, not a bus.
...
If there was no helicopters they'd still be here and happy.

Lots of 'Volcano' Mind Meld this morning. Reading the thoughts of tourists and how they best wish to view the volcano. I hope Spock gets royalties.

Perfect citizens: Those who do not like cake, but have a passion for producing eggs, butter, sugar & milk.

[MarkP]

I believe that the helicopter business would take a hit if customers had to be bused. I imagine the tour companies have already sharpened their pencils on that account. Nevertheless if a compromise had to be made on that account it makes sense to have a dedicated field close to the volcano. You would still get people flying over from Waikoloa though. That remote landing field is near some resorts and the tourists are in my opinion NOT going to take a 2+ hr bus trip in lieu of a 45 minute sightseeing ride to get to the volcano.

[Ino]

Reading this tread has been like dealing with the helicopter companies- frustrating! They have infuriated our Representatives and hicop.org with this no solution approach. TomK they just say it will cost extra fuel and they can’t afford it with no details. They like it just like it is. Unmonitored, unregulated they are free to do what they please- it’s anti social cowboy behavior. They tell hicop.org and our representatives that there is nothing we can do about it.

2 cents we thought this might be an excellent solution as the helipad used to be in the park but the companies refused to consider relocating. The companies stated that they did not want to give up their permits at Hilo Airport. A helipad used to be in Volcano. Our late great Representative Patsy Mink was living there and said enough is enough and they were forced to move.

If I had the business owner’s ear I would tell them that their business plan of ignoring resident’s complaints about their noise is going to be unsustainable for them. Eventually enough people are going to move here and in that group someone with political clout will be here and see how wrong this situation is. Then things will change. In August 2016 the powers that be ( I attended Gov Ige’s town hall meeting in Hilo and hicop.org was born) claimed they never heard of a helicopter noise problem here-DOT, Health etc.- they’re not saying that any more but they haven't been much help either-no jurisdiction everyone claims.

Although this is a Big island problem it also is national in scope. This has led to banning helicopters from some national parks- Crater Lake’s a good example.

These companies offer thrill rides over your national park- “Feel the Heat” How low do you have to go to feel the heat? “Doors off” Do you think there are consequences from this in our national park?

It’s very unfortunate that when Congress established these parks that at the time they didn’t consider a threat coming from the air;
http://vault.sierraclub.org/planet/19941...copter.asp

They offer an “Around the island tour” Doesn’t common sense tell you that a water crash in an emergency would be better than someone’s house or lava- look what happened with that helicopter that crashed on Oahu recently. Had they had flotation that teenager might still be alive. Had they crashed on the lava they would all be dead IMO.

We are a friendly group trying to come up with a solution but we have not heard one solution of any kind from these companies.

As for myself I’d much rather be doing good than fighting bad! I enjoyed being President of the Puna Lions Club and we made a difference but had to give it up to fight this.

[kalakoa]

tourists are in my opinion NOT going to take a 2+ hr bus trip in lieu of a 45 minute sightseeing ride

Can I book a 45-minute "sightseeing tour" to KOA? This might even be worth $200+ to me, especially if it comes with a ride across the tarmac to catch my direct flight to wherever.