The Hawai’i County Council adopted, on March 24, 1993, a resolution supporting an agreement between the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Park Service to set standards for helicopter flights over Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.
Adoption of the resolution was more difficult than the 7- 0 council vote might suggest. At earlier hearings of the resolution, testimony from residents had been countered by helicopter operators, particularly Scott Shupe. Shupe, who is a principal of Mauna Kea Helicopters, based in Kamuela, also is the Big Island director of the Hawai’i Helicopter Operators Association.
The resolution has no force of law. Still, Shupe was adamant in his opposition to the measure although at times members of the council seemed to think his remarks at the February 24, 1993 council meeting worked in support of the resolution.
According to Shupe, flights around the volcano, “if done properly, they are not dangerous.” But, he added, “I do think there are some inherent problems with individuals flying around the volcano.” Shupe went on to discuss the crash of the Paramount Pictures crew into Pu’u O’o vent last fall. A Big Island pilot was asked to fly through the smoke, Shupe said. The pilot was aware that the smoke was highly corrosive and contains low levels of oxygen. When the local pilot wouldn’t do what Paramount wanted, the film company brought in its own pilot and hired a helicopter from the island. “The rest,” Shupe said, “is history.”
“It was unfair to hold the whole industry responsible for that incident” he said.
The crash into the ocean of the Kainoa Aviation helicopter – in which four tourists lost their lives – also should not be held against the industry; Shupe claimed. The people at Kainoa “were completely out of the legal realm in which they were to fly on that day…. They had no right to be there, they weren’t supposed to be there, they were breaking the law.”
Again, Shupe said, “it’s hard to hold accountable the entire industry;” Almost all the operators generating the complaints by the public and park personnel “are Part 91 companies,” he told the council. Shupe has himself “complained to the FAA that this is not right,” he said.
But Shupe’s complaints stop short of mentioning individual operators. Shupe told the council he wanted to see FAA regulations enforced- “I see them violated every day;” he said. Councilman Jim Path pointed out that all Shupe had to do was “pickup the radio and turn the dial… I mean, you can literally pick up your radio and call right there on the spot and report any violations.”
“Well,” Shupe responded, “I’m not much of a whistleblower. I just want to see the industry change, clean up their act.”
Shupe’s testimony left Councilwoman Helene Hale, a sponsor -of the resolution, wondering why, if Shupe himself wanted to root out the bad apples, he should object to the resolution, which, in any case, merely supported the Park Service in an action it was already undertaking.
“Well, I just see the pattern or the handwriting on the wall that it’s one more rule, and it’s one more rule. Pretty soon, we can’t go anywhere,” Shupe responded.
Volume 3, Number 11 May 1993
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