Chopper damaged in accident was emergency link
Bruce Robinson is looking to buy a new helicopter to replace Ni’ihau Helicopter Inc.’s Agusta 109-A craft that was badly damaged during an accident last month at Hanapepe’s Burns Field.
The helicopter was the emergency-response vehicle for Ni’ihau, the island off Kauai’s west side owned by the Robinson family and home to nearly 300 people who speak Hawaiian as their first language.
The helicopter was flown for charters and contract work with the Navy, in order to subsidize its primary mission of being available for medical emergencies on Ni’ihau, Robinson said.
Without it, people of Ni’ihau needing emergency medical attention depend on the courtesy of the Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands, he continued.
“It is a concern,” Robinson said of emergency medical response for Ni’ihau residents. He said the Navy will respond, but the response time likely will be longer than when Ni’ihau Helicopter Inc. responding.
The craft that was damaged March 22 had an estimated value between $500,000 and $600,000, he said.
Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board has wrapped up its on-site investigation of the accident. A preliminary report is expected to be on the federal agency’s Web site this week, said Tealeye Cornejo, NTSB investigator in Los Angeles, Calif.
The event at Burns Field (Port Allen Airport) near the county’s Salt Pond Beach Park in Hanapepe is considered an accident by NTSB standards, because of the amount of damage to the helicopter, Cornejo said.
“It was a check ride, and there was just some miscommunication that happened and it was a hard landing,” she said.
A Federal Aviation Administration safety inspector, Jeff Weller, of the Honolulu flight standards district office, was on board with pilot Mike Hassett when the accident occurred. Neither suffered serious injuries, according to reports.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
