Big Island Fire Chief Darryl Oliveira said fire rescue workers who surveyed the crash site this morning praised the Island Hoppers pilot of the plane for skillfully guiding the aircraft to the ground, keeping it largely intact on very rough terrain.

The passenger compartment of the plane was burned but the aircraft did not break up, suggesting the pilot was able to dramatically reduce the speed of the plane before making a forced landing, he said.

"They attribute the three of them surviving to the pilot’s ability to do that," Oliveira said. "She did a really good job putting it down."

The two passengers, a 50-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man, were airlifted to The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu in critical condition this morning, and the pilot also was scheduled to be moved to Queen’s today as well, Oliveira said. The pilot also was described as being in critical condition, although her injuries were not believed to be as serious as those of the passengers.

After the crash the pilot called for help on her cell phone but was unable to precisely describe her location, and rescuers had difficulty finding the wreckage in the cloud cover and rain yesterday evening, said Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Erica Taylor.

Taylor said rescuers were about to call off the search for the night when a Coast Guard C-130 finally located the plane on an old lava flow about four miles northeast of Highway 11.

The damaged single-engine Piper Warrior aircraft was found at 9:09 p.m. at 4,500-foot elevation mauka of Miloli'i, according to Big Island fire officials.

Taylor said a Coast Guard HH-65 helicopter then lowered a rescue worker to the crash site and found the two burned passengers, but was initially unable to find the pilot. The pilot apparently had left the scene to seek help, Taylor said.

The Coast Guard helicopter removed the two passengers, who suffered second-degree burns over most of their bodies, and delivered them to an ambulance waiting at the Kona International Airport. Taylor said one of the passengers is a diabetic, and was suffering seizures during the rescue.

The helicopter then returned to the crash site and again lowered the rescue worker, who began calling for the pilot, Taylor said. The pilot, who suffered burns less severe than the passengers, was found and taken to another ambulance.

An employee of Island Hoppers said the company was still trying to notify family members of the crash victims.

The search effort included crews from the Big Island Fire Department, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy and Big Island police.

Taylor said the pilot called the Coast Guard at about 4:30 p.m., but the lead agency was the Big Island Fire Department, and the Fire Department did not ask for Coast Guard assistance until later that night, she said.

"By the time they did request assistance and we got out there, it was already getting to be dusk," Taylor said.