The National Transportation Safety Board website includes an Aviation Accident Database, where you can search according to various criteria. The last time we answered a question similar to yours was back in 2007 and we're happy to report that there have been no Las Vegas helicopter-tour accidents since the last one we wrote about, which took place in 2003. In fact, after some 20 years on a plateau, global helicopter safety rates have seen a marked improvement since 2005.
According to the third annual International Helicopter Safety Symposium, which took place in Montreal, Canada on 29 September last year, figures show that helicopter accidents averaged 9.4 per 100,000 flying hours in the years 2000 to 2005, but since then they, gradually reduced to 6.2 in 2008, and could be even lower for last year. Plus, these figures are for all helicopter flights; commercial accident rates run at about one-fifth of that.
Have there ever been accidents involving Las Vegas tour companies? Yes, with both taking place in the Grand Canyon. Back in August 2001, six people died and the remaining passenger was injured in a Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters crash, which was officially attributed to poor judgement by the pilot, whose "in-flight decision to maneuver the helicopter in a flight regime, and in a high density altitude environment, in which the aircraft's performance capability was marginal" resulted in "a high rate of descent from which recovery was not possible." As a result of this accident, Papillon employed a director of safety, trains its managers through the trade group Helicopter Association International, and updated its fleet.
Sundance Helicopters, another of the major tour operators in Las Vegas -- which also operates camera-mounted choppers for film and TV shoots, including "CSI" -- was also involved in a fatal accident in Sept., 2003, in which seven people lost their lives. In this instance, the Safety Board's crash report was even more critical of the pilot, whose "disregard for safe flying procedures and misjudgement of the helicopter's proximity to terrain ... resulted in an in-flight collision with the canyon wall." The operator and FAA were also found to be at fault: "Contributing to the accident was the failure of Sundance Helicopters and the Federal Aviation Administration to provide adequate surveillance of Sundance's air tour operations in Desert Canyon."
While both of these incidents were considered avoidable and the result of human error, which is concerning, the good news is that there have been no accidents involving helicopter tours of the Grand Canyon -- or elsewhere in or around Las Vegas -- since, so it would seem that lessons were learned and better safety systems put in place. We have taken several of these tours and have always been impressed by them and we wouldn't hesitate to recommend this as a once-in-a-lifetime must-do experience for anyone coming to Las Vegas. In fact, we have a great coupon from Papillon in the Rides & Attractions section of the 2010 MRB, and we wouldn't offer deals on any product or company that we didn't endorse.
In addition to Grand Canyon tours, Papillon, Sundance, and Maverick (the third big player heli-wise, which has never had a crash, to our knowledge) also offer nighttime tours of the Las Vegas Strip (the Bellagio fountain show is stunning from the air), plus other scenic destinations like Lake Powell and the Valley of Fire.
