Search continues for overdue Maui-bound plane
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Coast Guard, the Maui firefighters and several airborne volunteers searched fruitlessly throughout the day today for a Cessna single engine airplane last seen yesterday afternoon above Ke'anae Point on East Maui. A Coast Guard helicopter, equipped with night vision equipment, continued the search tonight.
Four people were on the flight, including a Maui man and two girls, aged 10 and 11.
Stephen J. Betsill, a construction company owner from Wailuku, was at the controls of the Cessna Cardinal 177, his own airplane. He took off from Kahului Airport about 2 p.m. yesterday, authorities said.
His passengers included another man, a friend of Betsill's. At least one of the two girls was visiting from Dallas, Texas, and some of the passengers may have been related, authorities said.
The group was to tour East Maui, headed from Kahului toward Hana, and then circle back to Kahului, relatives told authorities. The plane carried five hours' worth of fuel.
Two hours after takeoff, radar picked up the Cessna above Ke'anae Point at 1,600 feet, a normal flying altitude for the area. Ke'anae is along the coastal route to Hana.
Then the plane dropped out of sight.
Betsill's wife, Trudee Betsill, called the Federal Aviation Administration at 7:45 p.m. and reported the group missing.
Tweet Coleman, Pacific representative for the FAA, said airports throughout the state were contacted yesterday evening and police searched for the missing people. No one had any information about the Cessna or its occupants, so the search for the plane began.
Because Betsill had filed no flight plan, the searchers were unsure whether to focus their search on the ocean or the land.
"We just don't know," Coleman said.
At first light today the Coast Guard launched a C-130 airplane and an HH-65 helicopter and started searching the northeastern coastline and ocean. The Maui Fire Department joined in with its helicopter, and firefighters conducted searches on the ground.
Then other assistance flooded in.
The Civil Air Patrol sent two airplanes out to search, one from O'ahu and one from Maui, said CAP search and rescue coordinator, Lt. Col. Tony Schena.
Coast Guard Lt. jg James Garland said the U.S. Forest Service and members of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources searched the hills and hunting grounds above Hana. The family hired two private helicopters to look.
When contacted at her home last night, Betsill's wife said she and her family did not want to discuss the situation. An officer of the company hired to help in the search said that he, too, had no comment.
Other private air companies, including Blue Hawaiian and Moloka'i Air Shuttle, asked their pilots to be on the lookout as they conducted their rounds.
Coleman asked that aviators keep an ear out on the VHF emergency frequency, 121.5, for the plane's Emergency Locator Transponder. The ELT emits a rhythmic signal upon impact, a noise that fluctuates in volume.
The airplane is white with green stripes. Coleman said the single-engine Cessna 177, a deluxe version of the Cessna 172, was built in 1968.
The search is expected to continue tomorrow.
Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or at kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
