tour helicopter crash (on Oahu)

[Obie]

HAWAII AIR TOUR COMMON
PROCEDURES MANUAL


https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/fie...n_proc.pdf

[snorkle]

Remember when that helicopter crashed into Alae cemetery?

The pilot didn't survive, and the police recovered 456 bodies.

[terracore]

"States are forbidden by law from attempting to regulate air traffic. Only the FAA can"

Air traffic can be indirectly regulated. Local jurisdictions have the ability to regulate, in general, curfews and restrictions for different types of ground businesses (just ask anybody who needs a urinal), and you cannot operate an air tour company without ground facilities, local permits, etc. When it comes to air traffic in particular, the local jurisdictions have greater flexibility to indirectly regulate such activities so long as it doesn't interfere with interstate or foreign commerce, which would automatically invoke the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

[Midnight Rambler]

That kind of helicopter is (literally) fatally flawed. Watch the video in the middle of this article. I strongly suspect that mast-bumping causing the rotor blades to break off is what caused the crash, because the witnesses described it as "spinning out of control" but photos of the wreckage showed the tail rotor and boom completely intact.

https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-r...licopters/

[ElysianWort]

Blessings and prayers to those lost and the families of those lost.

It sure has been quiet lately out in the countryside though. Not many helicopters flying about here as a result of that tragedy.

[snorkle]

quote:

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Originally posted by Midnight Rambler

That kind of helicopter is (literally) fatally flawed. Watch the video in the middle of this article. I strongly suspect that mast-bumping causing the rotor blades to break off is what caused the crash, because the witnesses described it as "spinning out of control" but photos of the wreckage showed the tail rotor and boom completely intact.

https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-r...licopters/

---

______________________________________________________________________

I agree; Those Thompsons have had issues from the start.

You seem knowledgeable about rotary wing flight M.R.
I flew Huey's in my reckless youth......now there's an aircraft!

[Midnight Rambler]

Not any special aviation knowledge, but I fly a lot for work so I like to know what's what. It was good to see that the one we go in (MD500) has one of the lowest accident rates, but the one that just crashed on Oahu last week is the one we used to fly in! No one was even injured there though, huge difference.

[Obie]

The rotors were in the pictures taken just after the crash.It looked like they were still attached to the mast but they definitely weren't turning.

It's telling that a fuel tank destroyed a car in a driveway a distance from the scene.