Plane in Maui crash did not
have engine or control trouble

---

By Gary Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com

WAILUKU >> The single-engine airplane that crash in east Maui July 13 and left all four people aboard dead showed no apparent malfunction in the engine or flight controls, according to a preliminary report released today by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The Cessna 177 crashed "under unknown circumstances" into a grove of Eucalyptus trees on the side of a cliff in Nahiku at 4:11 p.m., the report said. It came to rest -- nose down -- on the forest floor at the 800-foot elevation, it said.

Maui businessman Stephen Betsill, pilot and owner of the plane, departed Kahului Airport 2 p.m. and was flying by visual flight rules, the report said. Betsill, who did not file a flight plan, was taking his Texas relatives on an aerial tour, his family said.

Those killed in the crash were Betsill, 47, sales and marketing manager of Betsill Brothers Construction Inc. on Maui; his cousin, Jerry Betsill, 44, a lawyer from Forth Worth, Texas; Jerry's daughter, Emma, 11; and Jerry's grandniece, Merideth Fenimore, 10.

A final report is expected to be filed nine to 12 months after the crash, said Lauren Peduzzi, spokeswoman for the National Transportation Safety Board.