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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, May 31, 2007

Faulty part cited in 2003 copter crash

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — A Big Island tour helicopter crash that killed the pilot, a tourist couple and the couple's teenage daughter in 2003 was caused by the failure of a faulty engine part that had fractured in at least a dozen other cases, according to a report by the National Transportation Safety Board Tuesday.

The Hawai'i crash and the findings of the investigation prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to issue three special warnings about the problem in 2004. The FAA also issued directives in 2005 to require that the part — called the compressor coupling adapter — be removed from aircraft engines.

Failure of that particular part was blamed for nine cases of engine failure, according to the NTSB, including the June 15, 2003, crash in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park that killed pilot Russell L. "Hoss" Holliday, 35; passengers Jody Laughman, 37, and her 13-year-old daughter, Nicole; and Jody Laughman's husband, James A. Thomas.

The Tropical Tour Helicopters McDonnell Douglas 369D aircraft crashed on a lava field and burned about 20 minutes into a 45-minute tour flight over the Pu'u 'O'o vent. There were no survivors.

The pilots of other helicopters in the area heard the pilot make a mayday call, and heard the clear "engine out" emergency warning tone in the background. Rescuers who had been in the area searching for a lost hiker went looking for the stricken helicopter, and found it engulfed in flames about two miles north of Chain of Craters Road.

The families of both Holliday, who had a wife and two young children, and of Laughman and Thomas, of Lake Meade in Adams County in south-central Pennsylvania, filed lawsuits over the crash.

Terry O'Reilly, a San Mateo, Calif., lawyer who specializes in helicopter crash litigation, represented Holliday's family in a suit against engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce and a company called Extex Ltd.

The lawsuit alleged Rolls-Royce had redesigned the compressor coupling adapter in a way that made it prone to failure, and alleged Extex manufactured the flawed part.

O'Reilly said the lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount shortly before the case was scheduled to go to trial in federal court in Honolulu late last year.

The flawed part is similar to a large nut that links together two sections of the drive train, and when that part failed the drive train tears apart, O'Reilly said.

The NTSB also found that contributing to the accident was the "unsuitable nature of the terrain to make an emergency landing," meaning the lava field.

An autopsy found Holliday and his passengers died in the fire that followed the crash landing.

Tropical Helicopters is registered to do business in Hawai'i as K&S Helicopters Inc. Calvin Dorn, president of K&S Helicopters, was unavailable for comment late yesterday.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.