5 die in Kauai
copter crashA rescue helicopter is
scheduled to try today
to recover the bodies
LIHUE >> A Kauai Fire Department rescue helicopter was scheduled to return to Mount Waialeale today to recover the bodies of a helicopter pilot and four passengers killed in a crash yesterday morning.
CORRECTION
Monday, July 28, 2003>> The Bell 206B Jet Ranger helicopter that crashed into Mount Waialeale on Kauai Wednesday was built in 1975, according to the National Transportation Safety Board Web site. A story on Page A1 on Thursday incorrectly attributed the information to NTSB spokeswoman Lauren Peduzzi.
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Two fire rescue specialists were dropped at the crash site in the early afternoon yesterday and found one passenger, a woman, who was conscious. However, swirling clouds prevented the rescue helicopter from evacuating her, and she died.
The rescue specialists remained on the mountain most of the day, but the weather prevented them from recovering any of the victims. For a time there was concern they would be forced to stay on the mountain overnight without survival gear. They were taken out shortly before dusk.
The Bell 206B Jet Ranger, operated by tour company Jack Harter Helicopters, crashed at about 4,500 feet up from the base of the mountain on a steep cliff face.
The pilot was identified as Mark Lundgren, a retired Navy pilot. He was married and had three grown children.
"He was a high-hour pilot. He was just a really safe pilot," said Casey Riemer, general manager of Jack Harter Helicopters.
Riemer said he could not even speculate on the cause of the crash. "The weather couldn't have been better. What happened, we just don't know."
Kauai's weather was fair yesterday with scattered clouds and winds up to 10 to 20 miles per hour, said Jeff Powell, lead forecaster of the National Weather Service in Honolulu.
Riemer said an inspector from the Federal Aviation Administration's Honolulu office was on Kauai yesterday looking through the aircraft's records. A National Transportation Safety Board investigator was expected to arrive today.
"We've voluntarily grounded the rest of our aircraft," Riemer said.
None of the passengers was identified. Fire officials said they were two couples from the mainland.
The Bell 206B Jet Ranger left Lihue Airport at 8:03 a.m. on a one-hour tour that included the many waterfalls on Mount Waialeale, known as the rainiest place on earth. Jack Harter Helicopters notified the FAA at 9:30 that it was overdue.
The wreckage was discovered on the east face of Mount Waialeale just before noon by another tour company's helicopter, Riemer said. "I don't even know what company spotted it. I know it wasn't ours because we hadn't told any of our guys at that time that a helicopter was missing."
Afternoon cloud buildups began just as the rescue helicopter arrived, said Battalion Chief Mitchell Ikeda, who set up a command post at Lihue Airport.
A large number of Jack Harter employees, friends and employees of other helicopter tour companies remained at Harter's headquarters long after the rescue teams quit for the day.
NTSB spokeswoman Lauren Peduzzi said the helicopter was built in 1975. No other information about its history was provided. Jet Rangers set up for tours carry a maximum of one pilot and four passengers, according to Jack Harter Helicopters. The Jet Ranger is a civilian version of a Vietnam-era scout helicopter widely used by the Army, which called it the Kiowa. Most civilian versions have more powerful engines than the military aircraft, which was often criticized for being underpowered.
Jack Harter claims to be the "original" helicopter tour operator on Kauai, having begun the service in 1962. The current company was founded in 1975.
"We had a perfect safety record until today," Riemer said.
The aftermath of yesterday's crash bore striking similarities to the last helicopter crash on Kauai five years ago.
On June 25, 1998, a pilot and five tourists were killed when an Aerostar 350BA helicopter operated by Ohana Helicopters took a 55-minute ride to the Blue Hole on Mount Waialeale.
A woman and two children from Oregon and a couple from Ohio were on the sightseeing helicopter tour. The NTSB said the pilot, also a retired Navy aviator, became disoriented in the swirling clouds and flew full speed into a cliff face.
Other members of the Oregon family were in another helicopter just two minutes ahead of the one that crashed and arrived safely at Lihue Airport.
As with yesterday's crash, a Fire Department rescue specialist was dropped at the crash site, and then the weather closed in. He was saved from spending the night on the mountain by a last-minute helicopter rescue.
It took two more days to recover all of the bodies and almost a week to bring out all the pieces of the helicopter.
As it did in the 1998 crash, the NTSB plans to lay out all the recovered pieces of the aircraft on a Lihue Airport hangar floor to reconstruct the crash.
Yesterday's crash was the second fatal crash of a sightseeing helicopter in Hawaii in less than six weeks. On June 15 a chopper crashed on the Big Island while flying over Kilauea volcano. The pilot and his three passengers, tourists from Pennsylvania, died.
