HONOLULU (AP) — A tour company helicopter crashed off the Hawaiian island of Kauai, police said, killing one person and leaving two missing in the latest in a series of crashes to plague the industry in recent years.
Hikers reported seeing the helicopter crash into the water about a quarter of a mile (0.4 kilometers) off the Na Pali Coast on Thursday and called police around 1:20 p.m., the Kauai Police Department said in a statement.
The Robinson R44 helicopter was part of Alii Kauai Air Tours and Charters, authorities said.
The company bills itself as the only Hawaiian-family-owned and -operated air tour company on Kauai, and its website said it has more than three decades of flying experience. It offers private tours by plane or helicopter.
One person’s body was recovered around 2:30 p.m. Thursday as crews continued to search for two people. Their identities were not immediately released. The U.S. Coast Guard had planned to continue the search overnight.
Neither the Coast Guard nor the tour company returned messages left before business hours Friday morning. Kauai officials said they would issue an update later Friday. The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the latest crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration last year established a new process for air tour operators in Hawaii to be approved to fly at lower altitudes following other fatal crashes.
Tour operators can fly at 1,500 feet (460 meters) unless they have authorization to go lower. The FAA said it would review each operator’s safety plan before issuing permission.
The move came after three deadly crashes in 2019, including one that killed a pilot and six passengers on the Na Pali Coast. The NTSB blamed the crash on the pilot’s decision to continue flying in bad weather.
Three people died when a tour helicopter crashed in a Honolulu suburb, and 11 people were killed when their skydiving plane went down after takeoff on Oahu’s North Shore. Federal investigators blamed that crash on the pilot’s aggressive takeoff.
Another helicopter crashed into a remote Big Island lava field during a sunset tour in June 2022, injuring the six people on board.
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