Plane crash on Lana'i kills student pilot
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Staff Writer
A single-engine plane that crashed on rugged west Lana'i early yesterday may have been engaged in an emergency landing attempt.
Chopper 8 photo
A student pilot was killed in the crash. The other person on the plane, flight instructor Matt McGurk, 22, of O'ahu, was hospitalized in fair condition yesterday.
The crash scene indicated that the pilot may have been attempting an emergency landing. Click here to see a closer view of the plane.
Marks at the crash site suggest the Piper Cherokee touched down once, bounced, and then crashed and rolled, spinning so it faced in the opposite direction.
"It appeared as though this was an attempt to land," said Detective Tim Gapero of the Maui Police Department.
There was no early indication of a cause for the plane's problems. Federal Aviation Administration investigators arrived at the scene yesterday afternoon, and a National Transportation Safety Board investigator was to arrive from the Mainland last night and head for Lana'i in the morning.
FAA Pacific representative Tweet Coleman said the pilot of the single-engine aircraft, owned by a Honolulu flight training school, had filed a flight plan indicating he planned to fly from Honolulu to Kahului, Maui, departing about 8 p.m.
Coleman said FAA tower audiotapes were expected to provide additional information, but she did not know yesterday what route the plane had taken.
Detective Gapero said the plane appeared to have been heading north as it touched down in an open field of scrub vegetation and bare dirt about three-quarters of a mile south of Kanepu'u hilltop.
The plane came to a stop within 100 yards of the initial point of ground contact, with one wing torn off and the fuselage pointed south, he said.
The body of the pilot was found outside the plane. Neither Maui police nor the FAA would release his name. Flight instructor McGurk was able to walk or crawl away from the wreckage. There was no fire.
The Coast Guard picked up a message from the plane's emergency transponder at 12:48 a.m., about the same time it detected an inaudible radio signal, said Coast Guard Chief Gary Openshaw.
A rescue helicopter was immediately dispatched.
Openshaw said the initial transponder report placed it about 10 miles out to sea. The rescue chopper arrived at that spot at 2 a.m., then tracked the signal onto the island.
The crew spotted the wreckage using night-vision goggles when it was suddenly illuminated.
"The survivor had turned on a flashlight and shined it on the fuselage," Openshaw said.
Without the help, the search would have taken considerably longer, he said. The crew landed near the wreck, determined the pilot was dead, and then located the flight instructor.
"He had walked a little ways and passed out," Openshaw said.
The medic aboard the helicopter determined the instructor had suffered head injuries and required immediate medical care. The helicopter took off shortly after 3 a.m. and landed at the Queen's Medical Center at 3:30 a.m., he said.
McGurk was listed in fair condition at the hospital yesterday afternoon, and told hospital authorities he was refusing interviews.
