NTSB · Safety Recommendation
Safety Recommendation A-22-020
Recommendation
TO THE TOUR OPERATORS PROGRAM OF SAFETY: Inform your members and make information available to the broader air tour community about the circumstances of this accident, provide information about available helicopter safety technologies for reducing the risk of accidents related to inadvertent encounters with instrument meteorological conditions, and encourage air tour operators to voluntarily incorporate such features into their helicopter fleets.
Safety Issue and Context
This report discusses the December 26, 2019, accident involving a seven-seat helicopter operated by Safari Aviation Inc. as a commercial air tour flight that encountered instrument meteorological conditions and collided into terrain in a remote, wooded area near Kekaha, Hawaii, on the island of Kauai. The pilot and the six passengers were fatally injured, and the helicopter was destroyed.
Safety issues identified in this report include limited ability of existing infrastructure to fully support some aviation safety-related functions needed for the safe operation of low-flying air tour flights, resulting in air tour pilots having to rely on their own in-flight visual weather assessments; absence of safety assurance processes to guide pilot decision-making; and ineffective monitoring and oversight of Hawaii air tour operators by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
As a result of this investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) makes eight new safety recommendations to the FAA, one new safety recommendation to the Vertical Aviation Safety Team, and one new safety recommendation to tour flight operators. NTSB also reiterates nine previously issued recommendations and two previously issued classified recommendations to the FAA.
Response History
March 1, 2023 · NTSB Correspondence · Tour Operators Program of Safety
We note that you have informed all TOPS members about this recommendation and that you are considering including, in your Program of Safety Standards, new requirements for safety technologies that would reduce the risk of accidents related to inadvertent encounters with IMC. We also note that you plan to work with the Helicopter Association International’s Helicopter Tour Operators Working Group to inform the broader air tour community about this recommendation and encourage operators to voluntarily incorporate similar technologies into their helicopters. Pending completion of the recommended actions, Safety Recommendation A-22-20 is classified OPEN-- ACCEPTABLE RESPONSE.
We look forward to seeing you at our briefing on this accident during the opening session of the upcoming Heli-Expo and discussing this safety issue with you and your members.
September 20, 2022 · Recipient Response · Tour Operators Program of Safety
From Christopher Young, Executive Director, Tour Operators Program of Safety: I am responding to the NTSB letter dated May 26, 2022 in which you urged TOPS to act on Safety Recommendation A-22-20 by implementing the recommendation contained in the referenced letter. To that effort I am providing you the actions taken or are being proposed by TOPS:
All TOPS Member organizations have been informed of Safety Recommendation A-22-20 to help raise awareness and further encourage the incorporation of safety technologies into their fleets for reducing the risk of accidents related to inadvertent encounters with instrument meteorological conditions.
The NTSB is invited to speak to TOPS Members about Safety Recommendation A-22-20 at the annual member meeting held in conjunction with Heli-Expo on 6 March, 2023.
TOPS will share the Safety Recommendation A-22-20 with Helicopter Association International’s (HAI) Helicopter Tour Operators Working Group for a broader dissemination to air tour industry operators.
The TOPS Standards Committee will review Safety Recommendation A-22-20 and consider new requirements in the Program of Safety Standards related to safety technologies for reducing the risk of accidents related to inadvertent encounters with instrument meteorological conditions.