Copter crash was on tribal land
Tours outside Grand Canyon park are not as highly regulated
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — A helicopter crash that killed three Britons and left four others critically injured happened on tribal land in northwestern Arizona where air tours are not as highly regulated as those inside the boundaries of Grand Canyon National Park.
The victims of Saturday’s crash were identified Monday as veterinary receptionist Becky Dobson, 27; her boyfriend Stuart Hill, a 30-year-old car salesman who lived in Worthing in southern England; and his brother, Jason Hill, a 32-year-old lawyer in Milton Keynes, north of London. They were in Las Vegas, Nev., to celebrate Stuart Hill’s birthday and took a helicopter for a sightseeing tour of the Grand Canyon on the Hualapai reservation, family and friends said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating what led to the crash at Quartermaster Canyon where rescuers had to fly in, hike to the site and use night-vision goggles to find their way around, Hualapai Nation police Chief Francis Bradley said. Windy conditions and the rugged terrain made it difficult to reach the victims, survivors and the helicopter’s wreckage.
Unlike the national park, air tours on the reservation aren’t subject to federal regulations that restrict routes, impose curfews and cap the amount of flights over the Grand Canyon each year. The Federal Aviation Administration granted the Hualapai Tribe an exemption nearly two decades ago after finding that the regulations would harm the tribe’s economy where tourism is a major driver. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the exception in 2003.
Most of the flights over the reservation by Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters originate from Las Vegas, and air tour operators aggressively market them. The pilots can fly between canyon walls and land at the bottom next to the Colorado River on the reservation — something that isn’t allowed at the national park other than for search-and-rescue operations. Landing pads sit upstream and downstream from where the copter owned by Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters crashed Saturday, constantly ferrying people on and off the aircraft.
The NTSB won’t say with any certainty what caused the crash until its investigative report is released 18 to 24 months from now. The agency generally releases preliminary information about a week after investigators wrap up work at the site of a crash.