Says FAA, TOPS Need To More-Closely Monitor Tours

Spurred on by two separate accidents involving helicopters conducting air tour operations over the Grand Canyon, on Thursday the National Transportation Safety Board issued recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration and the Tour Operators Program of Safety geared towards weeding out problem pilots, before they can cause accidents.

The Board cites the September 2003 downing of a Sundance Helicopters AS350 A-Star in Descent Canyon, as well as an accident two years before involving an AS350 flying for Papillon Airways, as reasons for the recommendations. Over the course of its investigations, the NTSB found the pilots involved in both accidents had received complaints from passengers on previous flights, stating they had flown recklessly.

Both pilots received complaints they had flown too closely to canyon walls; in the case of the Papillon pilot, passengers described incidents where the pilot would deliberately fly towards a wall, with his head turned to talk with passengers in the back, "until the passengers screamed for him to turn around" -- as well as descending steeply "to show passengers what it was like to drive a car off a cliff."

The NTSB also found those complaints were not addressed by the respective companies.

Both Sundance and Papillon are enrolled in the Tour Operators Program of Safety (TOPS). The companies receive independent safety audits under the program, which also governs flight operations within strict criteria.

The NTSB recommended the Federal Aviation Administration:

• Require periodic en route surveillance of all repetitively flown commercial air tour routes in the Grand Canyon area, including those routes located outside of the Special Federal Aviation Regulations No. 50-2 airspace. (A-07-89)
• Require all commercial air tour operators to maintain records of all safety-related complaints and complaint correspondence regarding pilot performance, document what actions the company took to address each complaint, and make the records available to the principal operations inspector for periodic review. (A-07-90)
• Require all commercial air tour operators to maintain the names and contact information of all passengers, along with the respective flight's identification number, for at least 30 days following the flights. (A-07-91)
• Encourage commercial air tour operators to establish a structured flight operations monitoring program that incorporates routine reviews of all available sources of information to ensure that pilots are conducting flights in accordance with company operating practices. (A-07-92)

In addition, the Board also recommended the Tour Operators Program of Safety:

• Expand the safety audit program to include a review of records of all safety-related complaints and complaint correspondence regarding pilot performance. (A-07-93)
• Expand the safety audit program to include en route surveillance of all repetitively flown commercial air tour routes in the Grand Canyon area. (A-07-94)
• Revise the safety audit program guidance materials to include a clear definition of "air tour flight" to ensure that auditors and members effectively implement en route surveillance of all air tour flight routes. (A-07-95)

FMI: Read The Full Recommendations Here And Here (.pdfs)