Two fatal crashes in four days of tour helicopters in Hawaii

HAENA, Hawaii — Officials searched waters off Kauai for the tail rotor that broke off from a tour helicopter before the aircraft crashed Sunday, killing a passenger.

County firefighters and lifeguards searched the area where witnesses reported seeing tail rotor falling and the aircraft's body spiraling down. After a sweep of the area, the search was called off due to poor visibility, Kauai spokeswoman Mary Daubert said.

The Hughes 500 helicopter operated by Inter-Island Airways crashed at about 1 p.m. at a YMCA camp in the remote Haena area shortly after the pilot heard a loud bang and lost control while trying to land, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The pilot was treated for minor injuries. Three people were critically injured and taken to Wilcox Memorial Hospital. A man and woman were later transferred to The Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu.

The victim was not immediately identified by authorities.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said the pilot has a clean record with the agency.

The wreckage was covered by a plastic tarp on Monday with only a warped blade visible. A National Transportation Safety Board investigator was scheduled to arrive later in the day.

A makeshift memorial of flowers were placed on a fence around the YMCA's Camp Naue.

It was the second fatal tour helicopter crash in the area in four days. The NTSB is also investigating Thursday's crash of a Heli-USA Airways tour helicopter crash at Princeville Airport that killed four people, including the pilot, and injured three others.

The A-Star helicopter went down shortly after its pilot radioed that he was having problems with the hydraulics. The wreckage was moved to Lihue Airport.

Meanwhile, Heli-USA resumed flights on Monday for the first time since its accident. It was the company's second fatal crash on Kauai in two years.

The latest crash was also the second for Inter-Island aircraft. On Christmas 2005, one of the company's aircraft crashed into a reservoir near Lihue while helping to fight a brush fire, killing the pilot.

The company declined comment.