Oahu plane crash
investigation
focuses on fuel

The plane's owner says safety
procedures weren't followed

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By Lisa Asato
lasato@starbulletin.com

The emergency landing of a small plane at Waialae Iki Park on Sunday could have been avoided had the pilot followed safety procedures, the owner of the aircraft said yesterday.

"On our part our comment would be, we are glad that everyone is safe and that we are disappointed in the pilot for not following the flight school safety procedures," said Stef-anie Suenaga of Commercial Flyer Inc., which owns the downed Cessna 150K.

Federal Aviation Administration Pacific representative Tweet Coleman said an investigation was ongoing, and would not comment on Suenaga's statement.

Suenaga said the pilot, 28-year-old Ryan Pettit, failed to file a flight plan and take along safety equipment such as a life raft, life vest and flares.

She also said that Pettit did not plan adequately for fuel, but declined to say whether the plane had run out of gas while returning from a trip to Lanai.

"It was a preventable accident," said Suenaga.

"All of the above should have been followed, and none of them were.

"Those are required by us -- they're not suggested, they're absolutely required."

Pettit received some of his training at Commercial Flyer, she said.

Pettit said he was flying 2,000 feet above Koko Head at around 5:45 p.m. Sunday when his engine failed.

He crash-landed at Waialae Iki Park on Kalanianaole Highway and ended up in somebody's back yard trying to avoid several children.

No one on the ground was injured.

Pettit, meanwhile, was treated for a 3-inch gash to his forehead and released by Queen's Medical Center that night. His passenger, Gerhard "Geo" Olssen, was examined but was uninjured.

Pettit has said he has been flying for almost a year and got his pilot's license in August.

He credited his training at Oahu Aviation flight school for his being able to land a plane with a failed engine.

Coleman said that while the FAA has not ruled out engine failure, it is focusing on the plane's "fuel system and anything that had to do with fuel."

Coleman would not say what led investigators to hone in on the fuel system, but said they are in the process of collecting the plane's fuel logs, finding out when the fuel was bought and re-tracking the pilot's route.

Coleman said the aircraft "would use roughly six to seven gallons (of fuel) an hour on average," but factors such as altitude, headwind and cargo weight would be considered to determine how much fuel was used.

Investigators have interviewed Suenaga but have yet to interview the pilot, Coleman said last night.

She said the investigators' findings will be sent to the National Transportation Safety Board in Los Angeles, which will issue a preliminary report in about three to four weeks.

She said the destroyed plane has been returned to Commercial Flyer's hangar on Lagoon Drive.