Pilot judgment faulted in crash

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer

A 17-year-old student pilot who died in a crash on Moloka'i last year was flying in conditions that required instrument training he had not yet received, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report released this week.

Chezray Hayes, a Mililani High School senior who was making his first solo interisland flight, died Jan. 25, 2003, when his single-engine plane crashed into the side of a mountain.

When his plane left Honolulu, weather conditions were good and Hayes was supposed to stay above 3,500 feet and make the flight to Maui using visual flight rules, which require the pilot to see clearly where he is headed and report his progress.

During the flight, however, Hayes descended to about 1,000 feet, taking him into cloudy conditions that require navigation by on-board instruments that he was not yet qualified to use, the NTSB report said.

That resulted in his in-flight collision with the mountainous terrain near Kalaupapa, the report said. The low-lying cloud ceiling was a contributing factor in the crash, the report said.

Hayes' instructor, Jennifer Oka of George's Aviation Services, told investigators Hayes was supposed to turn around and return to Honolulu if he could not see the visual landmarks that marked his route at any time during the flight.

Two military helicopter pilots who saw Hayes' plane said they saw him descending into the low-lying clouds with visibility between one and two miles, and one of them remembered thinking, "at that altitude, the airplane is going to encounter some bad weather," the NTSB report quoted him as saying.

Hayes did not make his next scheduled contact with Honolulu air traffic controllers, and a search was launched. The burned wreckage of the plane was found two days later.

Last year, Hayes' parents sued the company that provided him with flying lessons and arranged the fatal flight.

Michael Green, the family attorney, said yesterday that nothing in the NTSB report changes the family's feelings about the lawsuit.

"Several other schools canceled all their flights that morning after a weather front passed over Moloka'i. I'm convinced that he should never have been allowed to go up there that morning," Green said.

Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.