Yesterday's deadly helicopter crash on Kaua'i comes only a week after the National Transportation Safety Board blasted the Federal Aviation Administration, saying it fails to properly oversee and regulate air tours in Hawai'i.

The board's criticisms were part of a review of two fatal crashes on Kaua'i by sightseeing helicopters.

The board suggested that a Sept. 24, 2004, accident involving Bali Hai Helicopters in which five people were killed might have been prevented.

"The Safety Board concludes that the FAA has not provided sufficient resources for the Honolulu (office) to implement air tour surveillance. Such surveillance, in the months before the accident, may have detected and corrected the accident pilot's risky flying practices, such as low-altitude, off-route ridge crossings, and flight into clouds and reduced visibility," said a letter to the FAA last week.

BOARD FEARED RISKS

Because the FAA is still not enforcing certain regulations, the safety board said it feared some pilots might be ignoring rules and endangering passengers, particularly in bad weather.

The Bali Hai crash happened when the tour helicopter hit a cliff near Mount Kahili, an area often shrouded in rain clouds. The second accident reviewed by the NTSB occurred a year later, on Sept. 23, 2005, when three people died after a Heli USA aircraft flew into a storm and crashed into the ocean off Ha'ena.

The safety board said it has been concerned about FAA staffing since 1990, when a report concluded that at least three accidents in the Islands might have been prevented if the Honolulu office had enough people and guidance to maintain adequate surveillance of the air tour industry.

The review of the two Kaua'i crashes also led the NTSB to call for tougher regulations and training for the Hawai'i operators.

The safety panel recommendations include requiring all tour helicopters that fly over the ocean, even for short periods of time, to be equipped with fixed or inflatable floats; developing a training program for tour pilots that specifically addresses weather patterns in Hawai'i and in-flight procedures; requiring all helicopter tour operators to provide the training to newly hired pilots; mandating operators to provide rest breaks for pilots; and establishing an entity to oversee commercial air tour operations in Hawai'i and to enforce tour regulations.

Other recommendations include a re-evaluation of altitude restrictions and creating a system that would use Global Positioning System satellites to give air tour pilots more information about local weather, air traffic and their own location.

The FAA last toughened regulations for Hawai'i tour operators in 1994, requiring minimum experience for pilots, mandatory preflight briefings for passengers and pontoons or life jackets.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said yesterday the rules had a substantial impact on the air tour safety. There were 18 accidents in the six years preceding the 1994 regulations and eight in the six years after they were instituted, he said.

A LOOK AT INSPECTIONS

In response to NTSB concerns about inadequate staffing, Gregor said the FAA has its "fully authorized number of inspectors in the Honolulu Flight Standards District Office." However, the agency plans to send a team to Hawai'i "to see if we need to devote more resources to inspecting air tour operations," he said. "We take air tour safety very seriously."

Hawai'i tour operators commenting on the recommendations last month said they were open to any suggestions from the safety board, with some adding that they already have added safety measures in the wake of the two crashes.

Nigel Turner, president and chief executive officer of Heli USA, the company involved in yesterday's fatal crash on Kaua'i, was among those who said the NTSB recommendations were worth considering.

"I want to do anything to increase safety," he told The Advertiser on Feb. 13. "The NTSB came up with some very good ideas."