John Corboy questioned my statements, following two tragic accidents, that safety and community-disruption regulation of commercial helicopters and small aircraft is insufficient (“Case’s comments on plane crash ill-informed,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, June 28).

First, I obtained an 18-page report from the Congressional Research Service, which confirmed as much.

Second, I communicated extensively with the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates our airspace. The FAA confirmed that current regulation of specific operations is minimal outside of direct airport approaches.

Third, the National Transportation Safety Board investigates accidents and recommends safety improvements. Following the Kailua crash, one of several recent crashes nationally, NTSB directly called on the FAA to improve safety regulation. Following the Dillingham crash, NTSB publicly called out the FAA for not implementing key safety recommendations from NTSB’s 2008 report, with some 80 accidents and now 30 fatalities since.

I fully stand by my statements that commercial helicopter and small aircraft operations are virtually unregulated, pose a continued threat in the air and on the ground, and are increasingly disrupting whole communities throughout Hawaii. This is not acceptable, and I am pursuing realistic regulation focused on the public’s interests and not the operators’.

U.S. Rep. Ed Case

1st Congressional District, Hawaii

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