The report said pilot Larry Kirsch likely became disoriented before crashing into the side of a ridge the morning of July 21, 2000, killing all seven aboard the Blue Hawaiian Helicopters aircraft.

The report said Kirsch, 55, failed to maintain enough clearance from the terrain and that a contributing factor in the crash was a low ceiling of clouds.

The Aerospatiale helicopter crashed deep in the valley at the 2,850-foot level at 10:20 a.m. Also killed in the crash were four members of a New Jersey family and two Texas teens who had taken the tour flight as their last vacation adventure before they were to return home.

Three Blue Hawaiian tour pilots who were flying in the area at about the same time told investigators that they modified their tour routes to avoid the valley, where clouds obscured the ridgeline. Witnesses, photographs and videotapes from other air tours revealed that a solid overcast cloud layer covered the entire mountain range. The cloud cover prevented locating the downed aircraft for nearly five hours. According to the report, other Blue Hawaiian pilots told investigators that Kirsch was not nearby when they received their morning weather briefings that day, and they couldn¡ot verify he received the briefing information. In addition, the FAA's air traffic manager at the Honolulu Flight Service Station said there was no communication from Kirsch that morning even though the agency requires pilots to contact the station to obtain weather data before the first flight of the day.

But Kirsch, a veteran pilot, apparently was well aware of the weather. According to the factual report, the pilot's wife told an investigator that her husband had telephoned her after his first flight of the day, an operational test flight in another chopper, and complained about the clouds.

A videotape of Kirsch's first tour flight that day indicated he altered his course to avoid the clouds. As he was flying into Launiupoko Valley, the pilot told his passengers, "Let's see if we can make it over this ridge line," followed by a remark that he hopes it "opens up just a little bit." He then changed course for an alternate route.

Blue Hawaiian President David Chevalier said yesterday that Kirsch used poor judgment in entering 'Iao Valley. He speculated that the clouds must have cleared enough for the pilot to see the back wall of the valley, giving him the impression there was enough clearing to fly through.

"But you've got to be aware that it's a trap. You've got to be aware of the micro-weather on this island," he said, noting that weather can look good one minute and turn bad the next.