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‘It was a
miracle they
survived’Tour plane down: Eight people survive the ditching off HiloOne passenger missing: Navy divers will aid the Coast Guard in the search
By Rod Thompson HILO -- Surfers saw it from the beach, and pilots could hear it from the sky: The Big Island plane suffering engine problems had to ditch the plane into ocean whitecaps in Hilo Bay.
and Lori Tighe
Star-BulletinOne person, a passenger, remained missing this morning. But eight people, including the pilot, survived the crash landing of a Big Island Air twin-engine Piper Navajo Chieftain at about 5:30 p.m. yesterday.
The survivors were quickly rescued by the combined efforts of a Hilo Fire Department helicopter and boat. Both vehicles were joined today by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter and the cutter Kiska. Navy divers were to join the search for the missing person this afternoon.
A Hilo Medical Center spokeswoman said most of the crash victims were treated and released last night. She would not specify how many of the survivors did spend the night at the hospital, and would only say that all who were there this morning were in satisfactory condition.The Kiska was at the crash site through the night to secure the area for the arrival of National Transportation Safety Board investigators today, a Coast Guard spokesman said.
The plane's pilot, who remained calm before the crash, helped evacuate his passengers -- five men and three women -- after they hit the choppy water, according to witnesses.
"The water was real rough over there. It was a miracle they survived. We saw a lot of whitecaps," said Tom Hada, a pilot for Hawaiian Airlines who listened to the events of the crash by radio while waiting at the Hilo Airport runway for his own takeoff.
The Big Island Air flight began at the company's Kona base at about 5 p.m., had flown to the northern tip of the island and was coming down the Hamakua Coast when it crashed, according to Big Island Air owner Thomas Beard.
Beard would not release the pilot's name, but said "he did a remarkable job. Unbelievable."Eyewitnesses said the plane apparently had one engine on fire as it approached Hilo Airport.
The pilot reported engine problems at 5:25 p.m. In a steady voice, he said he was going to ditch the plane in the ocean off Honolii Point, about four miles from the airport, Hada said.
"He knew he was going down. This guy was real calm; he had it together," Hada said. "He was definitely in control of the situation, and he did a terrific job."
Then Hada heard the plane go into the ocean, and that five people had made it into a lifeboat.
"It was an eerie feeling to hear the plane go down. I was concerned if the people survived," said Hada, his voice still emotional several hours after the crash.
A single-engine plane flying in the area of the crash immediately radioed air-traffic control coordinates of the wreckage, which hastened rescue efforts, Hada said.
"Once a plane goes into the ocean, it's like a needle in a haystack to find it. The pilot of the single-engine deserves credit for his fast action," Hada said.
A Big Island Air spokeswoman said this morning that Federal Aviation Administration officials were expected to arrive at the company's Kona office this morning.
Surfers and fishermen who witnessed the crash landing said the pilot "made a good landing, a good ditch," said Hilo Police Sgt. Stephen Miller.
"He assisted passengers getting out," said Miller, who arrived shortly after the crash occurred at 5:39 p.m.
A group of fishermen on Banyan Peninsula, alerted to the plane's distress by scanner radios, watched the plane approach Hilo Bay through binoculars. They were about 1 1/2 miles from the crash site across Hilo Bay just outside the breakwater.
"The plane was coming down slow, just like it was landing," said Eddie Kansana."As soon as the plane stopped, it went down," said Donald Cabango.
Don Greenfield saw a red glow on the left wing -- definitely not a light, looking like a fire but with no flames visible, he said. The fishermen disagreed about whether there was smoke.
After it hit the water, the nose went under, and the left wing stuck up in the air, Greenfield said. He saw about three people huddled on the fuselage of the plane, but it went down in about a minute, and the people were then visible in the water.
A radio transmission gave the depth of the water at the site as 100 feet.
Miller first saw a "disturbance" about 200 yards offshore from Honolii Point when he arrived at the scene just after the crash. "It was a pretty inspiring rescue operation. It went like clockwork," he said.
The Hilo fire rescue boat took four survivors, and the helicopter airlifted the other four survivors in buckets and then flew them directly to Hilo Medical Center.
Rescuers brought the victims transported by boat to a landing zone at the end of Kahoa Road, and then they were taken to the hospital, Miller said.
"It looks like everyone is going to be fine," nursing supervisor Steve Palmore said last night.
The fishermen heard reports that survivors suffered pain in their eyes from exposure to fuel in the water.
A fuel slick remained on the water after the plane sank.
Just a few hundred yards from the ditching site near Honolii, surfer Simon Carvalho saw the plane land like a seaplane with floats.
"The plane slid across the ocean like a surfer," he said.
At Hilo Medical Center, Red Cross staff provided counselors for survivors, said Red Cross official Derek Kalima.
Officials still were not releasing any names of the victims this morning.
This is the second plane crash involving Big Island Air within the last year. On Sept. 25 a twin-engine sightseeing plane belonging to the tour and charter company crashed on the slopes of Mauna Loa volcano, killing all 10 people on board.
The NTSB has not ruled on the cause of that crash, but radar data showed the pilot of that plane, also a Piper Navajo Chieftain, was flying off the normal course used for sightseeing flights.
There have been two deadly air disasters in Hawaii within the past three months.
On July 21 a Blue Hawaiian Helicopters twin-engine helicopter crashed into a mountainside in Iao Valley on Maui, killing all seven people aboard.
On May 10 a private jet slammed into a hillside while approaching an airport on Molokai, killing all six people on board.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. About the airplane
Plane: PA 31-350 Piper Navajo Chieftain
Hawaii's decade of plane crashes