Two die after Big Isle copter crash

After being hospitalized Saturday, one died yesterday and one today

By Rod Thompson
Big Island correspondent

KAILUA-KONA - Imua Air Service helicopter pilot Kaohu Sproat, who worked his way up from a passenger attendant to a pilot, died yesterday at Straub Hospital of injuries sustained in a crash Saturday. He was 38.

"I like him. He was a really neat guy," said Barry Stokes of Citizens Against Noise, normally a critic of the helicopter industry.

"He was one of the good ones," Stokes said.

Passenger James Kimo Lim, 29, also died at the same hospital at 1:26 a.m. today.

Both men were from the South Kohala area.

They had suffered severe burns when the Hughes 500 helicopter went down about a quarter mile off Queen Kaahumanu Highway about 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

Two other men, also from the South Kohala area, were passengers in the helicopter.

Fire Department paramedics said they sustained serious back injuries.

Theodore Lindsey, 34, was flown yesterday to Queen's Hospital, where he is in guarded condition, after being taken initially to Kona Hospital.

The fourth man, Darin Bertelmann, 32, was also taken to Kona Hospital but was transferred yesterday to North Hawaii Hospital, where he is in stable condition.

Stokes, a former Hawaiian Volcano Observatory staffer, said Sproat and fellow pilot Scott Shupe once saved him from a cold wet night in the midst of a remote lava field when they flew through heavy mist to reach him.

Sproat's work at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park resulted in a crash there in 1991, said park fire control officer Jack Manassian.

Sproat was carrying fencing material when his helicopter crashed and burned. He managed to crawl free.

In January, Sproat crashed while lifting off from a heliport near Waimea. His helicopter then suffered $150,000 in damage.