Posted at 11:48 a.m., Thursday, June 13, 2002
2 Hawai'i residents killed in Arizona plane crash
Advertiser Staff
Two longtime Hawai'i residents were killed Saturday in an airplane crash in Arizona after taking off in a plane that an FAA official had refused to fly in.Kristin Lass, 30, and Michael Kellie, 44, were well known in local yachting and paddling circles.
The twin-engine plane crashed and burst into flames four minutes after takeoff from Nogales Airport.
All three on board were killed instantly when the plane smashed into the ground a few dozen feet away from a small home.
Minutes before, airport manager Larry Tiffin, a Federal Aviation Administration examiner who was to check Kellie out for a new certificate, had refused to fly in the aircraft.
Tiffin yesterday declined to say why he wouldn't board the plane and referred questions to the FAA Flight Standards Office and the National Transportation Safety Board, which are investigating the crash.
