Plane’s wreckage WAILUKU >> The wreckage of a single-engine Cessna, missing after taking off from Kahului Saturday afternoon, was found today in a valley in east Maui.
spotted on Maui
The 4 people aboard are presumed
dead, including 2 childrenBy Gary Kubota and Rosemarie Bernardo
gkubota@starbulletin.com | rbernardo@starbulletin.comAll four people aboard were feared dead, a federal official said this morning.
Steve Betsill, of Maui, an owner of Betsill Brothers Constructions, Inc., was piloting the plane, said Lee Guthrie, wife of one of Betsill's brothers.
Guthrie identified the passengers as Betsill's cousin, Jerry Betsill from Fort Worth, Texas; Jerry's daughter, Emma, and another cousin, Meredith, Guthrie said. One girl was 10 and the other was 11, she said.
Steve Betsill's family lives on a ridge at Maluhia Country Ranches in a cluster of houses with other family members associated with Betsill Brothers Construction, Inc.
"They're pretty close," said Mark Skinner, a neighbor.
Maui resident Alan Abdill said the Betsill brothers, including Steve, have been active as coaches in Little League baseball.
"They're a very close-knit Christian family," Abdill said.
The wreckage was spotted at about 7:50 a.m. in the mountain area of Nahiku, near mile post 25, said Maui Assistant Fire Chief Gordon Cordeiro.
A tour helicopter from Windward Aviation piloted by Don Shearer, accompanied by Betsill family members, spotted the wreckage, Cordeiro said.
Tweet Coleman, the Pacific representative for the Federal Aviation Administration, said an investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board is expected to arrive on Maui tomorrow.
Meanwhile, she said, an FAA safety inspector will begin the investigation into the cause of the crash.
The weather was clear on the day of the crash and Coleman said the airplane had five hours worth of fuel. She did not know if the plane had been attempting to land at the time of the crash or whether it had mechanical difficulty.
"We really don't know until we get to the crash site," she said.
Air traffic controllers at Kahului Airport on Maui received the last radio transmission from the Cessna at 4 p.m. Saturday when the airplane was flying at about 1,600 feet in the vicinity of Keanae, Cordeiro said.
The plane had departed from Kahului around 2 p.m. and was reported missing Saturday night, after the four failed to arrive at a party in Lahaina.
Two helicopters and a C-130 airplane had continued the search this morning after weekend searches by the Coast Guard, Maui authorities and others were unsuccessful.
Rescuers had difficulty locating the signal from the emergency locator transmitter aboard the aircraft.
The Coast Guard had begun flying in a grid pattern in ocean waters between Maui and the Big Island in hopes of finding the airplane.
The Civil Air Patrol and a National Park Service ground unit also assisted in the search.
A Coast Guard helicopter equipped with night-vision goggles had searched after sundown last night but failed to locate the plane, said Lt. j.g. Jim Garland, a Coast Guard spokesman.
The plane was headed toward Hana when it last made radio contact around 4 p.m., said state Transportation Director Marilyn Kali.
"The pilot radioed the air traffic control center and shortly afterward he went off the radar screen," Kali said.
Although the plane was equipped with an emergency beacon, no signal was picked up, Garland said. It is possible the batteries had run low on power, he said.
Betsill is involved in the building industry with his three brothers -- Doyle, Randy and Dwayne -- under Betsill Brothers Construction Inc., which is currently based in Maui. Betsill lives on a ridge at Maluhia Country Ranches in a cluster of houses with other family members.
According to neighbor Kalele Mahoe, Betsill was flying with relatives that included a cousin and two girls.
"It's a really sad situation," Mahoe said.
Betsill did not file a flight plan.
Coleman said "We encourage pilots to file a flight plan even though it's a half-hour or 45 minutes."
If an aircraft has a mechanical fault, "we have some idea of the direction of the flight," Coleman said.
According to Maui Aviators' chief flight instructor, Anton Stammberger, Betsill used the plane to commute between Maui and the Big Island, where he owns property in the Kohala district.
Betsill was one of the Stammberger's students. Betsill earned his pilot's license last summer.
"He was one of the sharper students we had," said Stammberger. "He's a real go-getter. He was very competent."
Stammberger co-owned the aircraft with Betsill until he sold his rights to Betsill in January.
He said Betsill had replaced the engine and other parts on the aircraft because the plane had sat in a hangar from 1996 to 2001.
A message was left on Stammberger's answering machine from Betsill's brother, Randy, Saturday night questioning whether he knew of Steve's whereabouts.
Like Coleman, Stammberger encouraged pilots to log a flight plan.
Star-Bulletin reporter Gary Kubota and the Associated Press contributed to this report.