Services set for 2 killed in crash
By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
Two longtime Hawai'i residents who were killed June 8 in an airplane crash in Arizona will be remembered at separate memorial services on Waikiki's waterfront tomorrow.
Kristin Lass, 30, and Michael Kellie, 44, died after taking off in a plane that an FAA official had refused to fly in.
National Transportation Safety Board investigator Tealeye Cornejo said this week that a flight examiner from the Federal Aviation Administration noted when the airplane started up that day that its left engine was not developing sufficient power.
The examiner canceled the examination flight and told Lass he felt that "the airplane should not be flown," according to the report Cornejo filed Tuesday.
The report said Lass, who was a flight instructor that day, talked with a mechanic at the flight school in Chandler, Ariz., and they agreed that "the flight could be done safely."
The aircraft yawed left three times as it rolled down the runway, then took off. After flying three miles, it crashed and narrowly missed a rural home. Lass, Kellie and student Sean Reidy, 29, of Scottsdale, were killed instantly when the aircraft cartwheeled and burned.
Lass and Kellie were well-known in local yachting and canoe-paddling circles.
Before moving back to the Mainland almost a year ago, Lass lived in Hawai'i for five years, working as a pilot for Voyager submarines and paddling and coaching at the Waikiki Yacht Club.
Kellie, who moved here in 1978 from Washington state, lived in Makiki with his wife, Tomiko. He owned a boat-repair business at the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor.
Lass and Kellie were attending Accelerated Flight Crew Training school in Chandler, Ariz., where she was working toward her commercial rating and he was trying to get his instructor's certificate.
Ron Dubois, a Waikiki yachtsman and pilot who was Kellie's longtime friend, said services for him will be held from the Hawaii Yacht Club at 3 p.m. tomorrow, with scattering of ashes at sea followed by a reception at the club.
Kristin Lass' friends and family will hold a memorial service for her at 8 a.m. tomorrow at the Waikiki Yacht Club, with sprinkling of ashes at sea at 9:30, and a reception at the club to follow.
Reach Walter Wright at wwright@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8054.
