Helicopters are very difficult to fly. The typical helicopter flight mission places an already difficult-to-fly aircraft into an even more difficult and hazardous environment. The lower flight altitude of helicopters as compared with fixed-wing aircraft brings them in closer proximity to on-ground hazards such as radio control towers, utility wires, mountains, or tall buildings. As a result of the powerful impact forces involved in a helicopter crash, the likelihood of those occupants' sustaining severe and disabling injuries and fatalities is substantial.

We wrote the book on helicopter crashes, Helicopter Crash Litigation by Gary C. Robb, published in 2010.

Helicopter crashes within the United States are occurring with alarming frequency. One-half (1/2) of the entire worldwide civil helicopter fleet operates in the United States, and thirty-six percent (36%) of all helicopter crashes occur here. From 2001 to 2005, the accident rate for civil helicopter use per 100,000 flight hours was forty percent (40%) higher than that for general aviation fixed-wing aircraft. The helicopter industry itself has acknowledged that the current helicopter accident rate is "excessive and unsustainable."

Flight Missions Within The Helicopter Industry

Some of the most common flight missions are listed below:

• Helicopter Touring Industry - Over the last decade there has been a disturbingly high rate of fatal helicopter crashes involving site-seeing tours. The NTSB has recorded more than 140 site-seeing flight accidents nationally since January 2000. The primary cause of crashes within the helicopter tour industry includes inadequate management or supervision, inadequate maintenance practices, inadequate risk assessment of weather or environmental conditions, compromising pilot workload by imposing tour guide responsibilities, incentives to fly too close to fixed obstacles, or operating in a crowded airspace.
• News Gathering Operations - There is a recurring safety problem involving numerous news helicopters involved in a police chase or other on-ground events simultaneously having the pilots report live while in flight. In October 2007, the National Press Photographers Association recommended that news helicopter pilots no longer report live while they are flying the helicopter, but this practice continues.
• Air Ambulance Services - In one ten (10) month period alone between December 2007 and October 2008, there were thirteen (13) helicopter air ambulance crashes which resulted in thirty-five (35) deaths. The NTSB has long proposed a flight risk evaluation program for air ambulance operators specifically including consideration of weather, visibility, and the prospect of unfamiliar or unsafe landing sites. On far too many occasions medical helicopters have taken on a mission in weather conditions not suitable for flight.
• Utility Wire Inspections - Helicopters are being used increasingly in the utilities industry for the inspection and maintenance of their transmission lines. This flight mission brings the helicopter in close proximity to horizontally strung utility lines or telephone wires. These are typically difficult for helicopter pilots to see and are especially hazardous to a helicopter. Flying a helicopter in low altitude environments where wires are present requires a degree of skill which is even more complex and demanding than other types of other helicopter flying.
• Search and Rescue Operations - Helicopters are the aircraft of choice in the rescuing of stranded snow skiers, adventurers lost in the wilderness, or people trapped on disabled sailing vessels. Many of the same considerations for air ambulance operations should apply to search and rescue operations, including a formal method of risk assessment.
• Law Enforcement and Border Patrol Usage - Police use of helicopters is increasingly common in most urban areas. Given the uncertain unanticipated flight path upon which such helicopters may embark, a separate spotter or observer is a must.
• Private Transportation - Use of helicopters for private transportation has increased in recent years given the congested nature of many urban areas. It has become common for many downtown office buildings to install a helipad for use of executives or visiting dignitaries. Such things as the velocity and direction of wind require a high degree of skill by the pilot on these missions.
• Transport to Off-Shore Platforms - More than 600 helicopters currently operate in the Gulf of Mexico off-shore fleet taking almost 1.3 million flights and carrying almost 3 million passengers per year. The use of helicopters to transport workers and other personnel to offshore platforms, primarily in the petroleum industry, has resulted in far too many crashes. The vast majority of these have occurred in the process of landing the helicopter on the off-shore platform.
• Firefighting Operations - Uncontained wild fires and massive forest fires are devastating events. Helicopters were first utilized to combat wild fires in southern California in 1947 and have been utilized extensively ever since. A standardized methodology for assessing weight for water, equipment, and personnel would drastically reduce the number of weight related helicopter crashes for this flight mission.

We would be honored to put our specific experience in these types of cases to work for your family. At such a difficult time, it is so important to have legal counsel you can trust to handle your case with the special professional care it deserves.

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