Low-flying helicopters pose dangers

I am a native Montanan, woodworker and mountaineer based out of Whitefish, and I am writing to bring attention to a dangerous situation in Glacier National Park - illegally low-flying helicopter tours.

As a climber, this concerns me terribly because they can cause avalanches and ice to break loose. By law, aircraft must be 2,000 feet above ground level, and unfortunately I have witnessed hundreds of illegal helicopter over-flights. From my direct observation, every instance has been Glacier Heli-Tours, owned by Minuteman Aviation. Not Kruger Helicop-Tours.

Recently, on Aug. 5, 2011, I was climbing Mt. Logan via the Blackfoot Glacier when a Minuteman Aviation helicopter flew over the Blackfoot and Pumpelly glaciers. It returned seconds later and did two more passes between 100-300 feet off the glacier. Within 10-15 seconds of the chopper flying away, I heard loud cracks and witnessed a chunk of ice from the glacier, the size of small house, break off and fall away.

At the same time, lower on the glacier and unbeknownst to me, my friend and climbing partner, Matt, witnessed a large chunk of the ice crash down onto the glacier, too. He said it easily would have killed him had it struck him. We spent three days and two nights on the glacier and never saw or heard any other ice break loose.

I encourage anyone who has seen this illegal and dangerous activity to report it to the Glacier Park criminal investigator, Steve Dodd, at 888-7801 or Steve_Dodd@nps.gov.

Jason Robertson lives in Whitefish.