Posted on: Monday, May 31, 2004

FAA official faulted in 2001 helicopter mishap

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — A federal inspector who failed to demonstrate an unfamiliar maneuver during flight testing of a pilot was a "contributing factor" in a 2001 accident involving a Ni'ihau Helicopters aircraft on Kaua'i, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Pilot Mike Hassett and Federal Aviation Administration inspector Jeff Weller, the only people aboard, were not injured in the March 22, 2001, mishap in Hanapepe, Kaua'i.

The helicopter landed hard during the annually required proficiency check of the pilot, collapsing the right landing gear and rolling on its side, damaging the rotor blades.

FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer said the agency has clarified its national proficiency check ride procedures "to preclude this from ever happening again."

"At the FAA we take reports of the National Transportation Safety Board very seriously, and in this specific case we have made changes so that things are done differently," he said. The changes were made shortly after the accident, he said.

According to the NTSB report, the FAA inspector gave the commercial pilot a "stuck pedal" emergency scenario after takeoff, and explained the procedure to the pilot. However, the maneuver is not part of the emergency procedures included in the aircraft's operating handbook, and the pilot was unfamiliar with it, the NTSB said.

The pilot erred while trying to land during the procedure, but the report noted the FAA inspector did not demonstrate the procedure for the pilot. The report called that a "contributing factor" in the accident.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.