Pilot blamed in copter crash

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

KAHULUI, Maui — The National Transportation Safety Board yesterday issued its final report on a 2000 tour helicopter crash in 'Iao Valley, assigning blame to the pilot for flying into cloudy weather.

The announcement, issued one day after the board released its factual report on the crash, said Blue Hawaiian Helicopters pilot Larry Kirsch likely became disoriented before slamming into the side of a ridge the morning of July 21, 2000, killing all seven aboard.

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

The Aerospatiale tour helicopter crashed at the 2,850-foot level at 10:20 a.m. Also killed were four members of a New Jersey family and two Texas teenagers.

Witnesses, photographs and videotapes from other air tours revealed that a solid overcast cloud layer covered the entire mountain by mid-morning, and other tour pilots flying in the region told investigators they bypassed the valley because clouds obscured the ridge line.

On his only other tour flight that morning, Kirsch avoided '?ao Valley because of clouds. A videotape of that earlier flight indicated he changed course after coming upon clouds in Launiupoko Valley, the entry point on an established leeward-to-windward route into '?ao.

Blue Hawaiian pilots told investigators that Kirsch was not nearby when they received their morning weather briefings that day, and the Federal Aviation Administration reported no communication from Kirsch that morning even though the agency requires pilots to contact the Honolulu Flight Service Station to obtain weather data before the first flight of the day.