Maker to analyze crashed helicopter's engine

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — Investigators studying the wreckage of the helicopter that crashed in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park on Sunday plan to ship the engine to the manufacturer, Rolls-Royce, for "a complete teardown," a spokesman said.

Paul Schlamm of the National Transportation Safety Board said he was not sure when the Hughes 500-D helicopter engine would be shipped or where it would be analyzed.

Schlamm said it was not unusual to return an engine to the manufacturer during crash investigations.

"They usually have the facilities and the equipment, and they have an intimate knowledge of the engine, and they can supplement what our people do," he said. "But it's all done under NTSB direction."

Tropical Helicopters pilot Russell Holliday made a mayday call about 9:30 a.m. Sunday before crashing on a cliff known as Pulama Pali, in an area about two miles inland from the park's Chain of Craters Road.

Holliday and his three passengers were killed.

Investigators have been looking for radar information that would detail the path and altitude of the flight, and Schlamm said yesterday he believed that data was available but might be "limited."

Autopsies have been completed on the four victims, and the identities of three were confirmed. They include passengers Jody Laughman, 37, and her 13-year-old daughter, Nicole, said Park Ranger Jim Gale.

Positive identification of a third passenger, Jody Laughman's husband, James Thomas, is still pending. The family was from Lake Meade in Adams County, south-central Pennsylvania.

Experts also confirmed the identity of Holliday, 35. He was living in Kona, but his family is in Pullayup, Wash., Gale said.

No cause of death has been established yet for the crash victims, he said.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.