posted 12-06-2000 18:30            

I don't know which company but I seem to recall that a helicopter on Hawaii (I think that it was the big island)
crashed not too long ago. I don't know if it was mechanical problems or something else. I also seem to
recall an article in the paper listing the safety record of the various air tour companies (both helicopters and
small planes) in Hawaii at about the same time. You should probably be able to get such info from some
government bureau in Hawaii or just do an Internet search. However, if you start looking at the 'incidents'
with various commercial airlines then you would probably never fly in a plane either so it is all relative....and
it you look at the safety record of cars you .....etc. etc.

We took a tour with Hawaii Helicopters out of Princeville (Kauai). They were very safety conscious - had a
full safety briefing beforehand which we have not always had on other non-Hawaii air tours. We had the
helicopter to ourselves (2 adults + 3 kids and a pilot) - for an hour tour I think that it was around $700 but it
was well worth it and Kauai is the place to take the tour. If you go it is best to go in the late late afternoon or
early morning - otherwise you may get cloud formations over the mountains and not see as much. From a
price perspective, they were all around the same. We got a bit of a discount because we went at the last
minute (i.e. we put our name in with a few tour companies and when they got a cancellation they called us).
However, by going on 'standby' (you didn't pay anything until you showed up for the tour) you can also
make sure that the weather is good.

We were on Kauai when the helicopter crashed on Maui last summer and went on a tour two days later with
Blue Hawaii at Princeville. It was difficult to make the decision to go, but it was one of the most wonderful
experiences in our lives. I would also recommend the Eco boat tour of the Na Pali coast. Seeing the island
from these two views was awesome. We are not adventurous people, but these trips were wonderful.

> We were on Kauai when the helicopter crashed on Maui last summer and went on a tour two days later
with Blue Hawaii at Princeville.

We used Blue Hawaii on the Big Island and they did an excellent job. They had excellent equipment, very
experienced pilots, and were very safe.

There are several that fly out of Lihue and just the take-off and landing views are worth the price of
admission. Definitely get one of the newer front and back seat copters with the noise-abating head-sets.
Sorry I don't know all the technical jargon. We (reluctantly) toured EVR at Poipu and got a tremendous
discount for the four of us--like $600 altogether. You have to work the tour desk a bit to get them up that
high. We booked that tour at one of the stands in Koloa town. That almost made our tour tolerable, although
towards the end we were close to telling them to just keep the gift! We took the 50-minute helicopter tour,
but decided we shoulda sprung the extra bucks for the long tour. We could see those copters and would
have like to have gone where they were. Would also recommend the Napali Coast tour, but preferrably in
the bigger tour boat, which was not operating when we were there.

Hi Bob,

When we went to Kauai a couple of years ago, we took a helicopter ride on Air Kauai. They use "Bose"
headphones which block out all the helicopter noise, and pipe in relaxing music. They have a perfect flying
record.

It happened that on the same day we took the helicopter ride, there was a crash on Kauai with another
helicopter company (I can't remember the name). We didn't know it at the time we took our ride, but found
out later that day. It really makes you stop and think about it.

However, we went to the Big Island last summer and decided to do another helicopter tour (I was
apprehensive, but peer pressure made me do it!) We used Blue Hawaii which had a perfect 15 year flying
record. Well, you guessed it, this was the same week they had the crash on Maui. (The last time any of the
islands had a helicopter crash was the two years prior, when we were there).

So the moral of this story is, if my family is visiting Hawaii, stay off the helicopters!!! Otherwise, it's a great
way to see the islands.

Kris

I went on the helicopter tour out of Princeville and I liked it well enough, but it is quite expensive and for
what you pay for it, I'd go with NaPali EcoAdventures and their boat tour instead. They use recycled french
fry oil from restaurants to fuel their boats...a great idea but it *will* make you hungry (take a big bag of potato
chips along with you, just in case.) And for your "high up" views go up to Waimea Canyon and take in all the
viewing areas, and also hike in if you have the time.