Was the Miami helicopter tour pilot who crashed at North Perry licensed to fly?

David J. Neal, Miami Herald on Jun 23, 2026

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MIAMI — The pilot in the helicopter crash earlier this month at North Perry Airport, which sent a man and two kids to the hospital, doesn’t show up as licensed in the FAA database.

Sky Helicopter Tours’ Marcelo Andrade, 56, doesn’t show up in the FAA’s Airmen Inquiry as having a certificate to pilot an airplane or a helicopter, or work as a mechanic.

A search of the Airmen Inquiry shows no one in the United States with the last name of Andrade and Marcelo Andrade’s birthdate holding a certificate. The only Marcelo Andrade in the database is a New York City resident with a different middle name who had a student pilot certificate in 2016. Only one Floridian, a Weston resident with a different first name, has the Andrade surname and a certificate to fly a helicopter.

The Marcelo Andrade at the helicopter controls for the June 13 crash lives in Dania Beach. Reached Monday morning by a Miami Herald reporter, Andrade declined to comment when asked for information about his pilot’s license.

Until Monday evening, Sky Helicopter Tour’s website claimed its tours were “conducted by FAA-certified pilots and maintained under the strict supervision of M&B Aircraft Maintenance Center LLC, an authorized Robinson Service Center.”

That got scrubbed from the website’s About Us page, leaving only the photos, after a Pembroke Pines News story posted Monday evening.

State records say both M&B Aircraft Maintenance and Skysafe Aviation, Sky Helicopter Tour’s parent company, are run by Andrade and Billy Costa, who has a mechanic’s certificate..

The FAA Registry says the Robinson R44 helicopter used by Sky Helicopter Tours had been categorized for “Agriculture and Pest Control” — prohibited by aircraft code from carrying passengers.

But around 11:10 a.m. on Saturday, June 13, Andrade was at the controls, with 39-year-old Francisco Diaz Pascual in the front seat and two kids, a boy and a girl, in the rear seat of the helicopter.

The NTSB preliminary report on the takeoff and crash

The National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report said Andrade told investigators it was the helicopter’s second flight of the day and nothing appeared abnormal.

“Shortly after lifting into a hover, the pilot said the helicopter drifted to the left, he applied right cyclic (control) to correct,” the NTSB report said. “Before the pilot could lower the collective the helicopter drifted sharply to the right and said he could not stop the drift.”

Video footage showed, the report said, the helicopter drifting left, then right. Part of the helicopter hit the ground and the Robinson R44 “experienced a dynamic rollover,” hitting a parked Cessna 340 multi-engine airplane and landing on its right side.

All four passengers were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.