Resolution Relating to Helicopter Safety

At the August 15th, 2019 regular Kaneohe Neighborhood Board monthly meeting, a resolution was unanimously passed to control the excessive and unfettered helicopter overflights in the greater Kaneohe moku.  The contents of the finalized resolution follows:

RESOLUTION

RELATING TO THE PUBLIC URGENCY OF STRINGENT REGULATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF TOUR AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS

IN THE STATE OF HAWAI‘I

WHEREAS, rampant tour helicopter activity with increasing safety risks and uncontrolled overflight intrusion has become unacceptable and intolerable for myriad citizens within the State of Hawai‘i; and

WHEREAS, Island residents continue to register resounding concerns relating to the absence of effective flight rules and enforcement to regulate the increasing number of commercial tour helicopter flights; and

WHEREAS, escalating public concern centers on both safety and quality of life issues due to recent fatalities and continuing unsafe flight patterns, low altitudes and high noise levels of commercial and tour helicopters flying over Hawai‘i’s communities; and

WHEREAS, within the past eight (8) months there have been five (5) commercial and tour helicopter crashes and emergency landings in or near populated areas: specifically a Novictor R44 on October 22, 2018, at the Kaneohe Bay recreational sand bar; a Paradise Hughes 369E on February 21, 2019, in Waipio Valley; a Paradise Hughes 369E on April 16, 2019, in Sacred Falls State Park; a Novictor R44 on April 29, 2019, on a Kailua town street; and a Schuman Hughes 369D on May 21, 2019, in Diamond Head State Monument Crater Park; and

WHEREAS, more recently, a brazen and flagrant disregard for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and standard safety of flight procedures occurred and was captured on video, as a passenger jumped from a hovering helicopter over the Kaneohe Bay sandbar without regard for people below and/or depth of water; and

WHEREAS, rapidly increasing and widespread operation of tour helicopters and other small aircraft pose increased safety risks to communities on the ground and have increasingly disrupted neighborhoods and lives throughout O'ahu; and

WHEREAS, there is minimal and open-ended regulation of tour helicopter operations as well as small fixed-wing tour aircraft operations; and

WHEREAS, the claimed self-regulation by tour helicopter operators has been proven ineffective and cannot be expected to improve, and the present sequestered updating of the inadequate 2008 “Hawai‘i Air Tour Common Procedures Manual” solely between tour helicopter operators and Hawai‘i Federal Aviation Administration officials is insufficient; and

WHEREAS, substantially increased government regulation of all aspects of commercial and tour helicopter operations is now necessary to address rapidly increasing safety risks in the air as well as on the ground; and

WHEREAS, substantially increased government regulation of all aspects of commercial and tour helicopter operations is now necessary to address rapidly increasing mass public and community disruption; and

WHEREAS, such regulation must address at least the following:

·       Applying the same safety restrictions as now govern other commercial air operations and extending the safety measures to conditions and people on the ground as well as in the air;

·       Setting defined and enforced regulatory flight paths for tour helicopters and small fixed-wing aircraft with safety considerations first and foremost; 

·       Limiting, regulating and enforcing tour helicopter operations to a minimum distance of one (1) mile offshore from any Island community and any public landmark or monument; 

·       Limiting, regulating and enforcing tour helicopter operations to a minimum altitude and distance of 2,000 feet from any land mass, public park, or structure;

·       Prohibiting tour helicopter operations over and around any designated Forest and Watershed Reserve and endangered species habitats;

·       Prohibiting certified pilots from also functioning as distracted tour guides;

·       Requiring current and updated noise suppression technology on all tour aircraft operating systems and parts, to be factory-installed or otherwise installed after-the-fact by January 2020 on all such aircraft at the operators expense; and

·       Providing a regulatory limit of maximum flights per day for all tour aircraft in accordance with the above restrictions and regulations; and

WHEREAS, commercial and tour helicopter impacts on Hawai‘i’s communities, ranging from low altitudes and high noise levels to unsafe flight patterns and fatalities, continue to cause significant public concern and distress; now therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED that the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board No. 30 fully supports and endorses substantially increased regulation of tour helicopters and small aircraft as set forth above; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board No. 30 urges its Federal, State and County elected and administrative government officials to devote their full efforts to such substantially increased regulation; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board No. 30 emphasizes that the FAA Honolulu Air Traffic Control and Flight Standards District Office Managers, the Hawai‘i Congressional Delegation, and the Hawai‘i State Department of Transportation Airports Division must work together with the impacted communities of record to ensure immediate remedies and controls through stringent regulations and enforcement of tour helicopter and small fixed-wing charter aircraft operations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board No. 30 supports the Hawai‘i State elected officials’ written request dated April 30, 2019, that the FAA and State Department of Transportation Airports Division immediately ground Robinson 22 and Robinson 44 helicopter operations in Hawai‘i until a thorough and detailed investigation of all Robinson mishaps can be completed with full public disclosure; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that copies of this Resolution as adopted shall be transmitted with proof of delivery date to the FAA Honolulu Air Traffic Control Manager and the FAA Honolulu Flight Standards District Office Managers;  all members of Hawai‘i's Congressional Delegation; and to the Governor of Hawai‘i and the Hawai‘i State Department of Transportation Airports Division Director; all Hawai‘i State Senators and Representatives; the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, all Honolulu City Council members, and all District Neighborhood Boards on O‘ahu.