NTSB: Pilots At Fault For Fatal Hawaii Air Tour Crashes, But So Is FAA …The National Transportation Safety Board analysts are raising concerns about small plane and helicopter pilots taking greater risks when they encounter bad weather.
The decision by an experienced Kauai pilot to fly his helicopter and six sight-seeing passengers into fast-deteriorating weather during his last scheduled flight of the day — weather that three other tour pilots chose to avoid — clearly played a role in the 2019 crash that killed everyone aboard, federal investigators say.
But the National Transportation Safety Board also lays much of the Safari Aviation crash’s blame on the agency that regulates Hawaii’s air tours and their pilots: the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA has failed to take key steps in response to previous fatal crashes in Hawaii that would make local tour flights safer, the board says.
