Typically, ashes are spread about five miles offshore, but the deceased in this case had been a hiker fond of the trails in the area, said Tweet Coleman, FAA spokeswoman.

His ashes were scattered by the pilot of a rented Cessna, flying low over the area about 2 p.m. Feb. 23. The calls to 911 and the FAA came quickly.

"Someone on the ground saw white smoke in the air," Coleman said. "They wanted to know what it was."

Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Capt. Richard Soo, who lives nearby, went to the scene, as curious as anyone else.

"It was all over the place," he said.

On roofs, the street, yards, in beds of pickup trucks. A Hazardous Materials unit tested the sample, but could not determine what it was.

"From what I saw, there were bone chips about the size of a dime," Soo said. "Bigger than dust particles, that's for sure."

Air traffic controllers figured out who the pilot was and the FAA counseled him, Coleman said. He had not broken any rules, but he said the next time he would scatter ashes at sea.

"He said he was spreading the ashes of an individual who was a hiker," Coleman said. "It was the hiker's wish that his ashes be spread in that area."

The practice often goes unnoticed because it occurs at sea, but also because ashes usually scatter quickly, Coleman said.

"It just disintegrates," she said. "It is really just ashes."