• Helicopter tours: A pilot’s perspective Helicopter tours: A pilot’s perspective By GORDY COX Reading the recent letters to the editor there appear to be four main concerns regarding the Special Federal Aviation Regulation 71, (SFAR). Greed, environment, noise, and
• Helicopter tours: A pilot’s perspective
Helicopter tours: A pilot’s perspective
By GORDY COX
Reading the recent letters to the editor there appear to be four main concerns regarding the Special Federal Aviation Regulation 71, (SFAR). Greed, environment, noise, and safety.
Greed. Kaua‘i’s helicopter industry directly employs over 140 residents, and indirectly employs numerous others. Millions of dollars is cycled through the islands economy annually from the purchase of gas, office supplies, vehicles, airport taxes and many other commodities, the list is endless.
Incidently, the helicopter removal of 5 to 8 tons of trash annually and the rescues of approximately 100 residents and tourists from Kalalau cost the county thousands of dollars, your tax dollars. Maybe the trail should be closed due to its hazardous nature!!!! (humor intended). During the 80s and early 90s, the helicopter industry donated their services to the Sierra club while they were repairing the trail. Greedy? I think not.
Environment. The SFAR excludes environmental issues as noted in the FAA’s Notice of Proposed Rule Making, (NPRM), “In accordance with FAA order 1050.1D, the FAA has determined that this proposed rule is categorically excluded from environmental review under section 102(2)[C] of the National Environmental Policy Act. The original SFAR 71 established procedural, operational and equipment safety requirements for air tour aircraft in the state of Hawaii.” That said, do the helicopters do damage or not? For many years now, helicopters have been transporting endangered animals, plants, and birds and their eggs to and from the Alakai swamp and other ecologically fragile areas on the island. Both the county and DLNR use helicopters extensively during their many operations, fire suppression, animal counts, policing, and land conservation to name a few. It would appear this causes no harm, otherwise the scientists and researchers would stop using us! It is our belief that helicopters are the most ecologically friendly way to see the island, we do not leave trash, footprints, or do not need roads. The Sierra club, on their website ask people to think twice before going on an airtour, but then give guidelines to those who “Gotta Go?”, in effect their “get out clause.” During one day last week, I asked my passengers if they were members of the Sierra Club, 7 out of 46 said yes!
Noise. Noise from a helicopter radiates in a cone, (just like an upside down, never ending, ice cream cone), the higher we fly, the larger the area covered by the bottom of the cone. Therefore, residents should be petitioning for us to fly lower, thereby reducing our noise signature. The routes we fly, keep us away from residential areas in the interior of the island, over higher ground. Often times on Kaua‘i the cloud base sits about 2500 ft. With the current SFAR, in order for us to stay legal, we are forced to fly over lower elevations of the island i.e. people’s homes. According to the Lihue Air Traffic Control Tower, most noise complaints received are not tour helicopters, but activities such as green harvest, military and search and rescue.
Safety. Without getting into advanced aerodynamics, helicopters do not act like airplanes. In the same manner that motorcycles have different handling characteristics to cars, helicopters handle different from airplanes.
Helicopters can hover and safely fly low to the ground. During a heavy rain shower, cars will slow down and even pull over, helicopter pilots prefer to slow down and get lower to the ground. The SFAR takes away the pilots ability to apply common sense, to route and altitude selection. We would like to have the option or “get out clause” to fly lower in un-congested areas, to allow us transition areas of inclement weather, without having to fly over peoples homes. We feel we are being singled out for being unsafe.
Research the annual drownings, road traffic accidents, hiking accidents and cases of heatstroke on the island, it will amaze you. Throughout history, helicopters have saved more lives than they have taken. For an in depth analysis of the tour industry’s safety record, read comment # 157 on the Web site listed below.
The pilots on Kaua‘i have for many years now adopted a Fly Neighborly program, in which we voluntarily avoid built up areas, homes and ecologically fragile areas. Even the Sierra club mentions our program on their website. All the SFAR comments sent to the government can be viewed at http://dms.dot.gov/search/searchFormSimple.cfm, type in docket number FAA 2003-14830.
Hopefully one day we can all get along.
Gordy Cox is a commercial helicopter pilot on Kaua‘i.
