Helicopter tours are tempting, but safety called into question

The deadly crash of a sightseeing helicopter in New York on April 10 has left many people wondering about the safety of such tours.

Commercial sightseeing helicopters take visitors places other tours can’t: deep into the Grand Canyon, to a hidden waterfall in the mountains of Oahu, high above New York, serving up breathtaking views with a dose of adrenaline.

The tours are popular; sightseeing helicopters are part of a multimillion-dollar industry in the United States. In New York alone the city’s heliports generate a “total economic impact” of $78 million a year, according to the Economic Development Corp.

But sightseeing helicopters can operate under less rigorous safety requirements than other commercial aircraft such as airliners, charter planes and some private jets.

The latest accident, which killed the pilot and a family of five visiting from Spain, comes after years of scrutiny about how the Federal Aviation Administration should regulate these types of sightseeing tours and an attempt by Congress to tighten the rules.

Since 2008 there have been 80 commercial sightseeing helicopter accidents, with 72 deaths, in the United States, according to the NTSB. Hawaii has had the most, with 20 accidents and 19 fatalities, followed by Florida, Nevada, Texas and Alaska. In New York there have been two accidents and 11 deaths, including the April 10 crash.

Sightseeing helicopters represented a small fraction of the more than 2,200 civil aviation helicopter accidents in the United States in that same period.

How safe is flying in helicopters?

Flying on a commercial airliner is by far the safest form of air travel, with an average rate of fewer than 0.01 fatal accidents per 100,000 flight hours from 2019 to 2023, according to data from the National Transportation Safety Board, the primary federal agency that investigates civil aviation accidents.

By contrast, the average fatal accident rate for all U.S. helicopters during this period was 0.69 per 100,000 flight hours, according to the U.S. Helicopter Safety Team, a nonprofit group dedicated to civil helicopter safety.

Helicopters are “complex mechanisms” that require a lot of care when it comes to maintenance and operations, said Jeff Guzzetti, a former accident investigator for the FAA and the NTSB. They are also “more dependent on proper pilot action due to the complex aerodynamics, complex control systems and complex environment than fixed-wing aircraft,” said John Cox, a former airline pilot who runs a safety consulting firm.

Pilots striving to give tourists an adventure, Guzzetti added, might attempt risky maneuvers. “They fly close to the ground and in proximity to things they’re touring over, whether it’s buildings or the cliffs of the Grand Canyon,” he said. “All of that combines to make it a more hazardous endeavor than riding an airliner from one city to another.”

How are sightseeing helicopters regulated?

The FAA has specific rules for different flight operations, based on factors like the type of aircraft and purpose of the flight. Regulations differ for aircraft maintenance, pilot qualifications and rest time, and acceptable conditions to fly.

Commercial airlines are authorized to operate under Part 121, the most rigorous set of rules. Sightseeing helicopter operations can operate under the less demanding Part 135, which applies to unscheduled commuter and charter services, or they can fly under Part 91, the least restrictive, which covers general aviation.

With FAA approval, helicopter operators can be certified under Part 135 but still operate flights under Part 91 rules if the helicopter departs from and lands at the same location and stays within a 25-mile radius, as many sightseeing tours do.

New York Helicopter Charter, the company that operated the aircraft involved in the New York crash in April, had a Part 135 certificate, according to the FAA. But the doomed helicopter was operating under Part 91 rules, according to the NTSB.

How important are the different rules?

Since 2008 most helicopter accidents have involved flights operating under Part 91, according to NTSB data.

Part 91 flights operate under “much less stringent requirements than their 135 charter brethren,” Guzzetti said. Part 91 operations do not have flight time limits or rest requirements for pilots. By comparison, Part 135 limits their flight time to eight hours for every 24-hour period, and requires scheduled rest time. It also has stricter training mandates for pilots.

Pilot fatigue may have contributed to a deadly 2004 sightseeing helicopter accident on Kauai, according to the NTSB. That flight, operating under Part 91, crashed into a mountain, killing the pilot and all four passengers. The NTSB cited the pilot’s inexperience with local weather conditions and a lack of scheduled breaks, among other factors, in its report.

Existing federal rules don’t “adequately address the pilot fatigue issues associated with the continuous, repetitive, high-frequency flight operations that are unique to commercial air tour helicopter operations,” the NTSB said in the report.

John Goglia, a former NTSB board member and an independent safety consultant, said pilots for these types of tours are “on the clock for a long time,” possibly making more than a dozen flights a day. “They just fly them all day long,” he added.

Christopher Young, executive director of TOPS, an independent helicopter tour safety organization, said in a statement that the group advocated higher standards in the air tour and sightseeing industry and encouraged all helicopter operators to adopt safety processes that go beyond federal requirements.

Four commercial helicopter tour operators did not return emails and phone calls requesting comment.

What’s done to make these flights safer?

Notable accidents over the years have prompted the FAA to tighten the rules for sightseeing helicopters.

After two accidents in Hawaii on the same day in July 1994, the NTSB called for “improvements in FAA oversight and new regulations” for the industry, including placing all commercial helicopter flights under Part 135. After the 2004 crash on Kauai, the NTSB again cited the “the lack of FAA oversight of Part 91 air tour operators” and pushed the FAA to require more training and establish rest breaks for helicopter pilots. The FAA did not follow these recommendations.

In 2018 a sightseeing helicopter conducting a doorless tour crashed into the East River in New York. Five passengers drowned when they were unable to escape from their safety harnesses. Several months after the accident, the FAA banned doors-off flights unless passenger restraints could be quickly released during an emergency.

The FAA also has enacted location-specific rules. At the Grand Canyon the agency limits the number of tours and where they can fly. In Hawaii, where poor visibility has been a factor in previous crashes, tour operators must fly at least 1,500 feet above the surface. Flying below that level requires FAA approval.

Guzzetti, the safety expert, said he thought there was enough supervision of Part 135 operations but that Part 91 oversight was “lacking.”

Legislation called the Safe and Quiet Skies Act, introduced in Congress in 2023, would have required all helicopter tours to fly under Part 135 rules. It did not receive a vote.

How do you know if a helicopter tour is safe?

Before you book, Guzzetti recommends asking the tour company how many aircraft it has, which regulations (Part 91 or 135) your sightseeing flight would be operating under, and how it trains its pilots. You also can look up the company’s accident history on the NTSB database. Finally, check to see whether the operator is affiliated with a safety organization like TOPS, whose members must adhere to rules that exceed FAA requirements as well as pass an annual independent audit.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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