No fuel problem in helicopter crash
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
No obvious problems with the fuel system were found in a preliminary examination of the engine from a tourist
helicopter that crashed on Kaua'i last month, killing five people.
The preliminary investigation report by the National Transportation Safety Board said the information available, as well as damage to the aircraft, indicated the engine might have lost power in the July 23 crash into Wai'ale'ale Crater.
The engine showed no evidence of damage from a foreign object; the fuel filter was full; the fuel lines were not blocked and the fuel was not contaminated, the report said.
The Rolls Royce engine was flown to the Mainland for a teardown and inspection.
The helicopter, a Bell 206B Jet Ranger owned by Jack Harter Helicopters, crashed on steep terrain in the northwestern crater wall about 4,700 feet up the slope. The wreckage slid about 300 feet down.
The impact immediately killed four of the five people aboard. Rescue firefighters who were airlifted to the scene found passenger Monica Peterson, 33, of Denver alive. Heavy clouds prevented evacuation before she died.
The preliminary investigation noted that "the crater area was unusually clear" before the crash.
The pilot for the one-hour tour, Mark Lundgren, 44, flew counter-clockwise around Kaua'i and reported to another pilot in the area that he was at the crater and flying a "741 to the top." The jargon is used by the tour company to indicate a flight to the crater rim, the report said.
A clock on the helicopter's instrument panel stopped at 8:52, about 28 seconds after Navy radar data noted the helicopter about 4,900 feet up the crater wall.
The helicopter was descending before it crashed, but it has yet to be determined whether the pilot had control, said NTSB investigator Wayne Pollack.
It is too soon to say whether pilot error or a health problem could have been factors.
An autopsy with toxicology screen will be needed, Pollack said, to determine whether the "descent into terrain was mechanically related or pilot-related or even a combination."
