Posted on: Friday, April 8, 2005

Glider wreckage set to be removed today

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Crews today will try to remove the wreckage of a glider that crashed in Mokule'ia Wednesday afternoon, killing the pilot and injuring two others.

Nicole Charnon, National Transportation Safety Board investigator, said last night that representatives from the company that insured the glider have arranged to lift the wreckage out of a valley near Dillingham Airfield. The glider was operated by Soar Hawaii Sailplanes Inc., which does business at the airfield.

The crash killed pilot Tyler Nelson, 22, and injured John Streich, 52, of Gig Harbor, Wash., and his 12-year-old daughter, Ashley.

Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration interviewed the Streichs yesterday.

Charnon said the NTSB also is eager to recover a video camera from the glider that may have been rolling during the flight.

"We treat that just like we do a cockpit voice recorder in an air carrier and we treat it very seriously," Charnon said.

The device will be sent to the NTSB's vehicle recorders laboratory in Washington, D.C., to "see what if anything pertinent to this flight is on there."

The city medical examiner's office yesterday had not positively identified Nelson's body. But a family friend in Wisconsin said Nelson's family is planning to travel to Honolulu to bring Nelson's body back to his Madison, Wis., home.

Dawn Johnston of Milwaukee said she has known Nelson and his family since he was a little boy. She said Nelson is from a "really warm, loving family" and that Nelson's mother is devastated by his death.

"They were such a tight family. They were always together, always doing family things," Johnston said. "We've all known Tyler since he was a little kid. He was a great kid."

Nelson moved to Hawai'i about six months ago after a failed relationship in Wisconsin, said Adrienne Morton, Nelson's close friend and roommate at a Waikiki hostel. Morton had just flown to San Francisco Wednesday night when she heard about Nelson's death.

"I just want to wake up from this nightmare, but it's not happening," she said last night.

Morton said Nelson had not expressed an interest in becoming a pilot until he met a pilot who worked at the Dillingham Airfield. After his first flight, she said, Nelson knew he wanted to be a pilot.

"He wanted it so much. The first time he went up and he came home he was just glowing," Morton said. "He said he never experienced anything like that."

Johnston, who worked in the aviation industry for more than 20 years, said she had never heard Nelson mention becoming a pilot.

"He never talked about flying. That was a surprising thing," Johnston said. "He may have spoken to that in his own family, but never outside of it."

Although Nelson was eager to fly, Morton said he also was concerned about the responsibility he would face.

"On the surface, he was excited as hell, but being so responsible for others was something that scared him," Morton said.

Just hours after Wednesday's crash, John Streich told his wife Karen that Nelson did everything he could to prevent the crash. Streich said the glider hit two consecutive down drafts and Nelson was unable to pull the glider out of the second one.

The glider crashed and flipped over, pinning the three inside. After more than two hours, fire rescue crews were able to reach the wreckage and lift the Streichs to safety.

Nelson was pronounced dead at the scene.

Soar Hawaii officials did not return phone calls yesterday.

Reach Curtis Lum at 525-8025 or culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.