By Ronen Zilberman, Associated Press
Investigators examine the wreckage of Big Island Air Flight 58
at the 9,800-foot level of Mauna Loa on the Big Island.

Pilot had
10,000 hours
of flight time

He had flown with
the airline for five years

Crash chronology
Flight patterns concern park
Investigators head for scene
Officials seek 3 victims' next of kin

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

KEAHOLE, Hawaii -- The pilot of a twin-engine plane that crashed Saturday evening had flown with Big Island Air for five years and logged more than 10,000 hours of flight experience, according to Roy Mann, director of operations for the company.

"We only hire the best pilots and we train them to turn around, and not take any chances," Mann said.

Mann said Big Island Air has not had an incident in 14 years of operations and "has a sterling reputation."

The company has run between two to four flights a day using two PA 31-350 Piper Navajo Chieftains.

"We've given professional service and a good time to thousands and thousands of people for 14 years," Mann said. "This is as much a shock to us as anyone else."

Big Island Air has suspended its operations because of the crash. The company offers a circle-island tour for $185 per person and a "Super Saver" Volcano-only tour for $135 a person. It also offers private charter services.

Mann said he believes the ill-fated flight was on a complete-island tour that was supposed to last about one hour and 45-minutes.

The flight left Keahole at 4:22 p.m. and was due back around 6.

Keahole airport officials realized the plane was overdue when the pilot failed to file a closure of his flight plan, Mann said.

Company officials were then notified, he said.

"We came down to see if the airplane had landed and if he had forgotten to close his flight plan," Mann said. "We expected to see the airplane on the ground but it wasn't. Then, of course, we expected the worst."

"We would like to extend our heartfelt sorrow to those people that lost loved ones in this flight," Mann said.

The plane that went down was 16 years old but was in good shape, Mann said. "We inspect it every 50 hours, tear it apart and look at it. Every 2,000 hours, we put brand new engines on it, brand new propellers."

The air frame had 4,000 hours of flight time, "like driving a new car," Mann said. The company purchased and began using the plane about 18 months ago.

Ben Fouts, a pilot with Mauna Loa Helicopters, said the commuter airline community in Kona is a small and close-knit one.

Fouts said he did not know the Big Island Air pilot who was killed very well but knows many of the others.

"They're a great bunch of guys, (the accident) blew me away," Fouts said. "It hit home, that's for sure."

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Chronology of crashes

Some of the fatal small-plane crashes in Hawaii since 1974:

July 4, 1999: The pilot of a twin-engine Beechcraft Baron died when his airplane crashed and burned at Hilo Airport. The plane had stopped in Hilo for refueling on its way to Oakland, Calif.
May 23, 1999: The pilot of a single-engine Beechcraft B-90 died when the Pacific Skydiving Center plane crashed in waters off Mokuleia.
Feb. 28, 1999: A Cessna ditched in the ocean 345 miles northeast of Maui. The pilot is missing and presumed dead.
Nov. 1, 1996: A single-engine Piper Seneca carrying Maui Democratic Party Chairman Robert McCarthy and Maui County Councilman Tom Morrow crashed on Molokai, killing a total of five people.
Jan. 29, 1996: A pilot was killed and two cargo handlers were seriously injured when a twin-engine Cessna 402B crashed after takeoff from Waimea Airport after dropping off mail.
Dec. 6, 1995: A twin-engine Piper Aztec crashed into Mauna Kea above Lapahoehoe, killing the pilot.
May 30, 1995: A Piper Cherokee Warrior on a flight from Kona to Honolulu crashed in the ocean between Maui and Oahu. Two people died and a third is missing and presumed dead.
March 25, 1995: A twin-engine Cessna 310 crashed in Iao Valley on Maui, killing the pilot.
Nov. 4, 1994: Two people died when a Piper Cherokee crashed into the roof of a Mapunapuna building minutes after takeoff from Honolulu Airport.
April 18, 1994: A Pitts S2B two-seater stunt biplane crashed in the ocean near the Turtle Bay Hilton Hotel while executing a roll during a weekly flying performance. The pilot was killed.
Jan. 14, 1992: Five people, including contractor Jim Mayes, were reported missing when his Cessna 310 crashed en route from Honolulu to Kahului. Mayes was piloting the plane, which was never found.
April 22, 1992: Nine people, including pilot Brett Jones, were killed when a twin-engine Beech 18 crashed at the 9,000-foot level of Haleakala on Maui.
Aug. 8, 1992: A twin-engine Cessna vanished into the ocean beyond Maunalua Bay with two aboard.
Dec. 16, 1992: A Hickam Aero Club single-engine Cessna 172 crashed into the Koolau Mountains, killing three Air Force personnel.
June 11, 1989: Eleven people, including the pilot, were killed when a Scenic Air Tours twin-engine Beechcraft crashed in the Big Island's remote Waimanu Valley.
Sept. 10, 1989: A twin-engine Aero Commander 680 crashed near Keahole Airport on the Big Island. One person was killed, one injured.
April 12, 1974: A twin-engine Beechcraft crashed at the 7,500- foot level of Mauna Loa, killing 12 people on board a Panorama Air Tour Co. sightseeing flight.

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Crash site: 9,800-foot level of Mauna Loa

Flight patterns concern
Volcanoes park

Crashes like Saturday's may be
avoided if park flyways are designated

By Rod Thompson
Star-Bulletin

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park -- Jim Martin, superintendent of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, watched an airplane fly directly toward the bulk of Mauna Loa on Saturday morning.

"The direction seemed awfully wrong," he said.

It was not the plane that crashed later in the day.

But it underscored a problem facing the park. Hawaii Volcanoes, like national parks across the country, has no control over the airspace above them.

"Right now there are some really intrusive flights going on," Martin said.

That could change under a bill introduced by Arizona Sen. John McCain and making its way through Congress. The bill would require designated flyways within parks.

The Federal Aviation Administration would retain control of airspace. But the process of designating flight patterns would require at least a minimal environmental study and park and community discussion before they were approved.

That's something the parks don't have now.

But Martin recognizes that it wouldn't be an easy job. The eruption is taking place on Kilauea's east rift today. Tomorrow it could be at the summit or at the opposite side of the park along the southwest rift.

The main concern for Hawaii Volcanoes has been helicopters. Airplanes haven't been a major problem, Martin said.

But longtime helicopter critic Barry Stokes of the Volcano community which adjoins the park says that is changing.

Fixed-wing airplanes have been flying early in the morning and late in the afternoon in order to give passengers a better view of glowing red lava, he said.

Although the pilot involved in Saturday's crash was highly experienced, there is no requirement for tour pilots to know how to navigate by instruments, he said.

Park personnel confirmed the observation. But Martin said the pilot pretty much has to fly by visual references anyway.

The purpose of tour flights is to see things, he said.

The problem arises when bad weather closes in suddenly. The concept is to back out in bad weather -- easily said for a helicopter, more difficult for planes.

And instruments can only tell a pilot where he is over the surface. Most instruments won't tell a pilot how close he is to the ground or whether a mountain is coming at him.

"You still have to know where you are. You have to know where the mountain is," said Martin.