Flagstaff, Ariz. • A helicopter crash that killed three British tourists and left four others critically injured happened on tribal land in the Grand Canyon where air tours are not as highly regulated as those inside the national park.
The group of friends was in Las Vegas to celebrate a birthday and took a helicopter sightseeing tour of the Grand Canyon on the Hualapai reservation, family and friends said. Killed were veterinary receptionist Becky Dobson, 27; her boyfriend Stuart Hill, a 30-year-old car salesman; and his brother, Jason Hill, a 32-year-old lawyer.
Unlike the national park, air tours on the Hualapai reservation are not subject to federal regulations that restrict routes, impose curfews and cap the amount of flights over the Grand Canyon each year.