Fishermen find aircraft's left wing
By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer
Andy Trozzi set out yesterday morning to catch 'ahi, but thanks in part to some seasick children, he wound up with the wing of a crashed airplane as part of his haul.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
After three hours of fishing off Makapu'u, Trozzi recovered the left wing of an aircraft that went down 94 miles north of Maui on Nov. 15.
Andy Trozzi of Kahala, skipper of the Shaka I, and Dan Massoni were among the finders yesterday of the left wing of a plane that went down Nov. 15 off Maui. The pilot of the plane was rescued. The wing will be turned over to officials investigating the crash.
The plane belonged to retired Coast Guard pilot William Swears. Swears survived the crash and was picked up by a Coast Guard helicopter almost three hours after he ditched his Cozy Canard Pusher, an experimental-type aircraft.
Coast Guard Chief Joe Curcio of the Joint Rescue Coordination Center said Trozzi radioed the Coast Guard the numbers on the wing, and it is from Swears' aircraft.
Curcio said the Federal Aviation Administration will pick up the wing today and begin an investigation.
Trozzi went out at 6 a.m. yesterday with two friends and four children, including his daughter Amanda, 7, and son, Andrew, 5.
Three hours into their 40-mile loop from Hawai'i Kai to Kane'ohe three of the four children aboard began complaining of seasickness.
Trozzi and his friends, Chris Briggi, 38, of California, and Dan Massoni, 35, of Honolulu, had caught four 30-pound tuna and decided to head for shore.
At about 9:25 a.m., 12 1/2 miles off Makapu'u Beach, Trozzi spotted what he thought was the fin of a dead whale.
"A dead whale means a lot of fish," Trozzi said.
As they got closer, Briggi, a former Cessna pilot, recognized the sharp angles of the object as those of an aircraft wing.
Trozzi said he immediately began searching the surrounding area for a life raft carrying survivors or any other pieces of the plane. At the time, he didn't know when or where the plane had crashed.
After clearing the deck of their catch and fishing lines, the trio loaded the wing into the back of the Shaka I, Trozzi's boat.
Swears had been attempting to complete an 18-hour flight from Honolulu to San Francisco when he reported engine trouble at a little before 9 p.m., about 175 miles north of Maui.
Swears steered his craft toward Maui, but was forced to ditch it 30 minutes later.
He was picked up in the early hours of Nov. 16.
Trozzi, who owns Shaka Engineering, also has a boat back in his native Boston. He goes fishing there every summer.
The wing, despite its size, was not the biggest thing he has ever caught.
"I caught a 1,000-pound tuna off of Boston once," Trozzi said.
Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.
