Posted on: Friday, June 10, 2005

Pilots faulted in two aviation accidents

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

A crash that seriously injured a Canadian pilot on Maui last year was caused in part by the pilot's miscalculation as he tried to land a plane that had lost power in one engine, the National Transportation Safety Board has ruled.

In a separate finding, the NTSB also blamed pilot error and bad weather for a hard landing by a Big Island tour helicopter last year.

In the Maui aviation accident, Alan Walls of British Columbia was the only person on board when the twin-engine Piper Navajo he was flying crashed 200 yards short of the Kahului runway on Feb. 18, 2004.

Walls was about 440 miles northeast of Kahului and 3 1/2 hours into a flight from Honolulu to Oakland when he reported the engine failure. He was able to stabilize the plane and steer a course for Maui.

Fire officials said at the time that the plane lost power a few hundred feet north of the Kahului runway. The right wing dipped and struck the ground, causing the plane to spin around on a grassy area short of the runway at 1:52 p.m.

The NTSB investigation into the accident was unable to determine why one of the plane's engines failed.

However, the board blamed the crash at the Kahului airport in part on the pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed while trying to land with one engine.

In a separate investigation report released this week, the NTSB ruled that the pilot in a helicopter accident in Pa'auilo, Hawai'i, on July 8, 2004, failed to plan adequately for the trip or react properly when bad weather suddenly closed in on the aircraft.

The pilot and six passengers in the Blue Hawaiian tour helicopter escaped with no serious injuries after the helicopter landed and rolled to its side about 200 yards mauka of Kukuipapa Road.

The A-Star helicopter left the Waikoloa helicopter pad at 12:15 p.m. to fly down the Hamakua Coast to Hilo, and the pilot heard reports of poor weather conditions along his intended flight path, according to the NTSB report.

The pilot chose a different flight path to avoid the bad weather, but the rapidly changing weather closed in on the aircraft. The pilot then dropped through a hole in the clouds to try to see under the cloud cover, but the weather worsened as clouds and fog engulfed the helicopter, the NTSB said.

The pilot was attempting to reverse course and climb again when the main rotor struck a tree, according to the report. During the emergency landing, the right skid of the helicopter struck a boulder, and the helicopter rolled onto its side, according to the NTSB account.

Blue Hawaiian did not respond to a request for a comment on the report.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.