The Hawai’i Helicopter Operators Association was created in 1984, because, it has said, “The industry realized that it needed to improve its flying procedures in order to become more compatible with both the permanent and transient (tourist) communities.” Membership in the association is voluntary; Bob DeCamp, HHOA’s executive director, said recently that about 86 percent of the state’s tour helicopter operators belong to his group.
In 1989, HHOA established what it describes as the Fly Neighborly Program. Operators participating in the program, which HHOA describes as mandatory are supposed to observe certain stand-off distances and minimum altitudes in areas designated as noise-sensitive. When operators are found to have violated the program by the HHOAs Fly Neighborly Commission Branch, they are subject to fines. For the first violation, the fine is a warning to the pilot and the company. The second violation by the same pilot results in fines of $100 imposed on both pilot and company. Additional violations result in suspension of the pilot for 30 days and a $250 fine payable by the company. To date, HHOA has not reported a single violation.
On Maui, HHOA says the program has been a success, resulting in drastically reduced numbers of complaints. (Some people living on Maui report that they complain less now because complaining to HHOAs hotline was a waste of time.)
On the Big Island, though, even DeCamp admits that the program has its flaws. In March, he publicly apologized for what he described as “deficiencies” in the Fly Neighborly program. Promising to do better this year, he said that the program’s “Helpline” would be staffed. In another departure from past practice, DeCamp said that HHOA would begin monitoring its members’ flights to see whether they were indeed flying neighborly.
The monitoring is to be done by computer. Under a $70,000 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration, HHOA is to set up a system of tracking helicopters that uses transponders to send Global Positioning System data – latitude, longitude, and altitude – to a land-based receiving station. There, the position of any helicopter equipped with a transponder can be tracked as the helicopter is in flight. Data on helicopter flights is kept in the computer for up to three days before being destroyed or transferred to a permanent record.
The so-called Nuisance Abatement Performance Evaluation System provides just the sort of data that the FAA needs to enforce its own regulations. However, the FAA has indicated that it will not be using NAPES-generated data for enforcement. Monitoring will be done solely by HHOA, or its invited guests.
Finally, just five of the 20 or more tour helicopters on the Big Island will be equipped with the transponders. If the monitoring program is successful, a FAA spokesman said, additional helicopters may be equipped with them.
Volume 3, Number 11 May 1993
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