No loss of life in crash
relieves plane’s owner

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By Diana Leone
Star-Bulletin

When Mokulele Flight Service owner Kawehi Inaba heard Friday morning that one of the company's planes had made an emergency water landing off the Big Island's Hamakua Coast, her heart sank.

Fifteen minutes later, when she got word that pilot Michael Lauro and his four passengers had been rescued, "it was a difference of night and day," she said yesterday. "Nothing else mattered to me after I found out they were OK."

The Cessna 337, a plane with engines in front of and behind the cabin, had been on a circle-island tour, flying counterclockwise from its Kailua-Kona base, Inaba said. After ditching the plane near Paauilo, Lauro, 47, helped his passengers get out before the plane sank.

The plane can seat six, but Mokulele had removed one seat for a better escape in the case of an emergency, Inaba said. "We sacrificed the money and that extra seat for the safety. I'm glad we made that decision."

Inaba at first hesitated to call Lauro a hero, because she did not want to seem to be "tooting our own horn."

"He did what he needed to do, based on what he was trained to do," Inaba said. "In my eyes, yes, I guess I do believe he is a hero, and he did a wonderful job."

The plane, built in 1967, has been used by the touring company about eight months, Inaba said.

Honolulu-based Federal Aviation Administration safety inspector Stan Chuck said the plane's maintenance records were in good order, with the last full inspection on April 29.

The investigation into the crash will take about six months and is focusing on whether there is a problem with the fuel used or the plane's fuel system. There are no plans to try and retrieve the plane from the water, he said.

Three of the four passengers aboard the plane remained in stable condition at North Hawaii Community Hospital yesterday afternoon, a spokeswoman said.

The passengers were identified as Marco Greca, 29, and his wife Adrianne, 26, of Brazil; and Joseph Rhett Varnadore, 39, and his wife Ruth, 36, of San Leandro, Calif. The most serious injury was a back fracture suffered by Mrs. Greca.

Inaba said the company, which normally runs eight sightseeing flights per day with a fleet of five planes, did not miss a flight despite the accident. Only two scheduled passengers elected not to take their flights on Friday, she said.

Inaba said the company's small workforce, which includes seven pilots, would be getting together soon "to spend some quality time alone together, rejoicing in the fact that everybody is alive."