Arizona air crash Safety concerns led a Federal Aviation Administration official to refuse to ride in a plane that later crashed Saturday, killing three people, including a Honolulu man.
kills man from isles
An FAA official refused to board
the plane for a scheduled pilot's testBy Anthony Sommer
tsommer@starbulletin.comMichael Kellie, 44, of Honolulu, had been in Chandler, Ariz., for the last six months, taking flying lessons, according to his father, Fred Kellie of Haena, Kauai.
Kellie was scheduled to take his certification test in Nogales, Ariz., on Saturday and flew there that day from Chandler. Also aboard was Kristen Lass, a flight instructor from Colorado Springs, Colo., and Shawn Reidy, another student pilot from Scottsdale, Ariz.
"He already had a job as a pilot lined up," said Kellie's father. "All he had to do was pass the test and he would start work the next day."
According to an Associated Press report, when the plane reached Nogales it was met by FAA examiner Larry Tiffin.
Tiffin refused to ride in the plane and warned the trio against flying it because he believed it was not airworthy. Tiffin would not tell reporters what he believed was wrong with the aircraft.
After the exam was canceled, the three took off with Reidy at the controls. Minutes later the plane crashed and burst into flames.
"I wish he had listened and taken a bus home," Fred Kellie said yesterday.
Kellie was born and grew up in the Seattle area. He worked as a boatwright at Ala Wai Boat Harbor for the past 20 years, his father said. "About a year ago he decided he should be a pilot so he just dropped everything and worked at pilot, training 20 hours a day."
Kellie is survived by his wife, Toki, of Honolulu, his parents, two brothers and a sister.