4 injured after helicopter makes hard landing on Kauai
COURTESY KAUAI POLICE DEPARTMENT
A Blue Hawaiian helicopter made a hard landing Sunday afternoon on Kalalau Beach on Kauai.
At least four people were injured Sunday afternoon when a Blue Hawaiian tour helicopter made a hard landing on Kalalau Beach on Kauai.
The incident occurred around 3 p.m.
According to a Kauai Fire Department release, four passengers sustained back injuries, and another may have suffered minor undefined injuries in the landing.
The five were taken via helicopter to Princeville Airport, where they were transferred to the care of paramedics and taken to Wilcox Memorial Hospital.
Another Blue Hawaiian helicopter took the pilot and another passenger, both uninjured, to Lihue Airport.
The cause of the hard landing has not yet been determined.
6 responses to “4 injured after helicopter makes hard landing on Kauai”
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Ouch; any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. Many of these helicopter pilots are military trained; thank goodness.
Ai ya ya, equipment failure or pilot error, both expose company to liability suits.. Hope the injured regains their whole self back! Hard landing appears that pilot had equipment problem and was attempting a landing on the beach away from any danger..
Kalalau Beach is huge, so the fact that they had to land in wet sand where waves have washed up says a lot about how urgent the landing must have been. There are lots of places for the helicopter to land on dry sand away from the waves and on a large grassy clearing as well. You have to imagine how serious the situation was.
This is an example of why people are concerned about these tourist helicopters falling out of the sky over our communities. Our legislation needs to address the increased growth of tourist helicopter flights that worsen the quality of life (safety & noise) of our local residents. Tourist helicopter routes should be limited to our coastlines, rather than flying their constant daily routes over our neighborhoods, schools and parks. Letters and calls have been made to State Senators, State Representatives, Blue Hawaii Helicopter, Paradise Helicopter, Makani Kai Helicopter, and Letters to the Editor of the Star Advertiser with zero result.
I am surprised the FAA doesn’t demand better safety devices for the passengers. In a car crash we have our shoulder harness, air bag and safety belt, in an airplane we have a safety belt since in both instances they are designed for a crash straight ahead. In a helicopter it’s straight down, thus the back injuries. Maybe airbags below the seats????
And on my first ride years ago, when returning, the puckish pilot joked, “..this is the tricky part..”, and we all chuckled.. =\