Experts believe copter had
By Trish Moore
power before crashing
Star-BulletinLIHUE -- Evidence from the wreckage of the helicopter that crashed near Waialeale Crater on Thursday indicates it was likely operating under power at the time of impact.
National Transportation Safety Board investigator Wayne Pollock yesterday found fuel still in the chopper's tank and scratch marks on the fuselage, indicating the drive shaft of the tail rotor was turning when it crashed.
Pollock, who spent about two hours poring over the smashed remains of the A-Star 350BA helicopter at Lihue Airport yesterday afternoon, did not offer any conclusions as to the cause of the accident, which killed all six people aboard.
A salvage team managed to recover most of the debris from the crash site yesterday, after being delayed for two days by bad weather conditions that prevented them from reaching the steep narrow ridge in Kauai's central mountains. It took several trips to airlift the wreckage from the crash site to a truck waiting above Wailua Falls, where it was then taken to Lihue Airport.
Most of the helicopter was recovered, Pollock said, except for "a significant portion" of one of the main rotors.
The chopper's tail boom and a portion of the passenger cabin were the only pieces that were relatively intact. The rest of the debris had scattered more than 100 feet down the hillside from the point of impact, officials said.Pollock said he found no evidence of fire. He will continue his study of the wreckage through today, and still has to determine whether fuel was running through the system and whether the pilot still had control of the aircraft when it crashed.
Pilot Chuck Lowe, 45, a retired Navy helicopter pilot, was certified to fly with instruments in poor weather conditions, and the chopper was properly equipped, Pollock said.
Autopsies of the six victims were completed over the weekend, and the bodies of the passengers from Lake Oswego, Ore., and Twinsburg, Ohio, were flown home yesterday.
