Posted on: Sunday, October 3, 2004
Copter pilot off route before crash
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau
LIHU'E, Kaua'i — The pilot of a helicopter that crashed Sept. 24, killing five people, was flying off his authorized route, and had been off the route on at least two previous flights the same day, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Nicole Charnon said yesterday.
She cautioned that this does not necessarily mean he was violating flight regulations.
Charnon said that Bali Hai Helicopter Tours pilot Shankar Tummala, 39, had an approved southward route east of the ridgeline from Wai'ale'ale to Mount Kahili. Within a mile on either side of that route, tour helicopters can fly within 1,000 feet of the ground. Outside that route, they must remain 1,500 feet above the ground.
The approved route allows helicopters to turn west and cross the ridgeline once they have passed well south of Kahili, she said. Thereafter, Tummala would have to fly northward again in order to reach the Bali Hai flight's next major visual scene, Manawaipuna or "Jurassic" waterfall.
The Bell 206B JetRanger crashed near the ridgetop three miles north of Mount Kahili.
A crossing at that point would have provided the helicopter with a more direct route to Manawaipuna, but required crossing the ridgeline where it is several hundred feet higher than it is farther south. To cross the ridge at that point within regulations would have required the helicopter to fly to 1,500 feet higher than the ridge, which is more than 3,000 feet high at the crash location.
She said information from a pilot who had seen him cross the ridgeline two times earlier was that the helicopter was not that high on the earlier flights.
Charnon said she hopes to review radar records to determine what the flight's route and elevation were in the minutes before the crash. She said the investigation is continuing.
A detailed survey of the engine, transmission and tail boom, as well as a main rotor instrument panel, is to start today.
Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.
