Solo pilot forced to crash land on Maui

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

KAHULUI, Maui — A 42-year-old pilot from Canada was in a Maui hospital yesterday after surviving the crash landing of his crippled twin-engine aircraft at Kahului Airport.

The pilot, the only one on board the Piper Navajo, reported an engine failure at about 11:27 a.m. some 440 miles northeast of Kahului and 3 1/2 hours into a flight from Honolulu to Oakland.

Authorities said the pilot, Alan Walls of British Columbia, was able to stabilize the aircraft but decided to return to Hawai'i anyway.

He also contacted the Federal Aviation Administration, and crewmembers from a C-130 Hercules airplane and an HH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point responded, finding the aircraft at 1:18 p.m.

FAA spokesman Jerry Johnston said the original plan was to escort the plane back to Honolulu, but a decision was made to divert to Maui, where airport rescue crews were waiting.

Jeff Shaffer, acting assistant chief with the Maui Department of Fire Control, said the plane lost power again just a few hundred feet north of the runway, and the right wing dipped. The plane spun around on a grassy area short of the runway at 1:52 p.m. and rescue personnel rushed to extricate Walls.

Paramedics took him to Maui Memorial Medical Center in Wailuku, where he was listed as stable, Shaffer said.

Johnston said the FAA will help coordinate an investigation of the incident by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Two United Airlines flights from the Mainland to Maui were diverted to land at Honolulu because the long runway at Kahului was obstructed until 4:04 p.m., state Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa said.