Pilot pleads not guilty in fatal Kauai crash
LIHUE » Helicopter pilot Glen Lampton pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges yesterday, his first court appearance since being charged with the deaths of three of his passengers in the September 2005 Heli USA crash.
It's the first time in the state that a helicopter pilot has been charged with manslaughter after a plane crash. And Heli USA officials said it's the first time in the aviation industry that a pilot's been charged when weather was a contributor in the crash.
Lampton, 44, accompanied by his lawyer, Sam King Jr., made a brief appearance before Circuit Court Judge George Masuoka. King did most of the talking, pleading not guilty to seven total charges and requesting a continuance of the trial date to July 24.
"My client pleaded not guilty because he is not guilty," King after the hearing. "That's what the result of the trial is going to be."
Before court yesterday, Lampton turned himself in to Kauai Police Department officials, and posted a $100,000 bond. He is expected to remain on Kauai a few days until the judge receives a bail study and a written request to return to the mainland.
Lampton, a pilot for the Las Vegas-based Heli USA, was piloting a tour around the Garden Isle Sept. 23 when he encountered a heavy thunderstorm and plunged into the ocean near Haena Point on the north shore.
Three people, Mary Soucy and Catherine Baron of Maine, and Laverne Clifton of Ohio, died of drowning shortly after the crash. Lampton and two other passengers survived with minor injuries.
According to the indictment, Lampton is accused of "recklessly causing the death (of the three passengers) by piloting the helicopter in an unsafe manner and/or in unsafe conditions."
He is also charged with recklessly endangering the lives of the two survivors, tampering with evidence, and making false statements to federal investigators.