I just heard a helicopter tour just crashed, about 30 miles from the strip. One pilot 4 passengers all dead. Crashed in remote area not accessable by car.
It was just a news bleep, and I don't have any more information???

JMT, do these things happen often, I seem to recall something about helicopters and other tours crashing, but not sure if it was recent???

I wonder which helicoptor company it was. I guess you always take a risk with those things.

A colleague of mine was in Hawaii last month and did a helicoptor tour around Kauai. The very next day, the helicoptor crashed with the same pilot he had the day before. Very scary.

The carrier was Sundance. The crash was west of a water treatment area near Lake Mead. The AS350 left McCarran on a Hoover Dam tour and was on it's way back when it crashed and burst into flames. There were 4 passengers and a pilot on board. It quickly turned from a rescue to a recovery, once the accident was located. The crash scene was left untouched for the overnight hours, and investigators are on the scene now and the bodies are being recovered and evidence is being logged.

A Sundance helicopter crashed in the west rim when the same type of helicopter clipped the canyon walls killing a pilot and 7 passengers. This was in 2003. That particular pilot had received 2 prior complaints of flying too close to the canyon walls.

Sundance made an emergency landing near lake mead in 2009 with no injuries.

Sundance has operated here since 1985 and has FAA awards for maintenance excellence. They get multiple FAA operation safety awards.

Considering the number of passengers and number of flights around Las Vegas, the Hoover Dam, and the Grand Canyon, I think the tour helicopter industry is pretty safe. Tour busses? That's a different topic and different answer.

I don't know for sure, but I've wanted to investigate the companies that operate helicopters here. I think it's like the cab companies where there are only a few owners but several different companies. I think the companies share resources too. I took a Hoover Dam tour from the Boulder City Airport earlier this year. There were so many fixed and rotor wing aircraft coming and going, and almost no distinction on carrier brand. It was a smooth operation and a nice flight.

Sundance has a good reputation. The only time I did a helicoptor tour was with Maverick and I really liked them. I felt totally safe (well, as safe as one can feel in a helicoptor!).

The NTSB released flight data on the falling star that said everything was normal until about a minute before the crash. The plane suddenly went up 600 feet, turned left 90 degrees, then sank 800 feet, turned left again 90 degrees, then on into the mountainside.

On a really sad note the two couples that were riding were both celebrating weddings. An Indian couple (dot, not feather) had gotten married about a month ago and were on their honeymoon. The other couple were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary and their children had bought this helicopter tour for them.

Wow - that's pretty sad.