Posted on: Saturday, October 23, 2004
HAWAI'I BRIEFS
No defects found in crashed plane
Advertiser Staff
A National Transportation Safety Board investigator said there appeared to be no mechanical defects in a twin-engine plane that crashed on Maui this week.
NTSB inspector Tealeye Cornejo also said the Cessna 310 exploded on impact Sunday when it crashed at the 3,700-foot level of Haleakala.
A probable cause of the crash that killed pilot Ward M. Mareels, 54, has not yet been determined, she said. "He hit pretty level with the terrain, and there was a fire mark from the first identified point of impact to the final resting spot," she said.
Mareels, of Kailua, O'ahu, was flying from Maui to Kailua, Kona on the Big Island, to meet friends who were participating in the Ironman Triathlon World Championship, Cornejo said.
He was flying by visual flight rules and was not using navigational instruments.
Shortly before the crash, Mareels notified the Federal Aviation Administration control tower that he was at the 3,000-foot level and increasing his altitude. He did not indicate he had any problems.
Another 67 Hawai'i Army National Guard soldiers will deploy to Iraq next year.
The deployment in October of 2,500 Guard soldiers with the 29th Separate Infantry Brigade to Fort Bliss, Texas, for extra training before heading to Iraq represents the biggest combat mission for Hawai'i-based Guard and Reserve members since World War II.
The latest units to receive mobilization orders, in this case for Jan. 10, are the 117th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment and the 298th Engineer Detachment. The units were put on alert last year. Soldiers are expected to be mobilized for 18 months.
In January, the 29th Brigade will head to the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La., for combat certification before flying to Kuwait in February and March for a year of duty in Iraq.
The aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis is scheduled to arrive in Pearl Harbor tomorrow for a three-day port visit.
The ship is en route to its homeport of San Diego following a five-month deployment to the Western Pacific. Three other ships from the Stennis strike group, the USS Ford, USS Champlain and USS Howard, have arrived in Hawai'i.
The strike group participated in Rim of the Pacific naval exercises in Hawai'i earlier this summer, then made visits to Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.
More Guard soldiers to deploy
Carrier to stop at Pearl Harbor
