HONOLULU (AP) — A tour company helicopter crashed off the Hawaiian island of Kauai, police said, killing one person and leaving two missing in the latest in a series of crashes to plague the industry in recent years. A hiker on the Kalalau trail reported seeing the helicopter crash into the water about a quarter of a mile (0.4 kilometers) off the Na Pali Coast on Thursday and called the fire department around 1:40 p.
m., Kauai officials said in a statement. The Robinson R44 helicopter was part of Ali’i Kauai Air Tours & Charters, authorities said.
The company bills itself as the only Hawaiian-family-owned and -operated air tour company on Kauai, and its website said it has more than three decades of flying experience. It offers private tours by plane or helicopter. Kauai lifeguards on personal watercraft recovered one person's body from the water Thursday.
The U.S. Coast Guard continued searching Friday for the two people in the water.
Their identities were not immediately released. The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. Once the aircraft is recovered, an NTSB investigator will begin documenting the scene and examining the aircraft, the agency said Friday.
The aircraft will then be recovered to a secure facility for further evaluation. The Federal Aviation Administration last year established a new process for air tour operators in Hawaii to be approved to fly at lower altitudes following other fatal crashes. Tour operators can fly at 1,500 feet (460 me.