COURTESY OF KITV4 NEWS Searchers found the missing single-engine Cessna in a Nahiku valley in East Maui yesterday morning with the pilot and three passengers dead, officials said. Aboard the airplane were pilot Steve Betsill, a Maui businessman; his cousin Jerry Betsill of Fort Worth, Texas; Jerry's daughter Emma, 11; and Jerry's grandniece, Merideth Fenimore, 10.

4 bodies found
in downed plane

An investigation begins into
a crash on Maui that killed pilot
Steve Betsill and 3 visitors

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By Gary T. Kubota and Rosemarie Bernardo
gkubota@starbulletin.com rbernardo@starbulletin.com

WAILUKU >> Maui businessman Stephen Betsill was giving his relatives a tour of Maui when his single-engine airplane crashed Saturday afternoon in East Maui, brother Randy Betsill said yesterday.

Later that evening, one of the passengers, Jerry Betsill, a cousin visiting from Fort Worth, Texas, was to celebrate his 17th wedding anniversary with a quiet dinner for two with his wife, Laura, Jerry's older brother, Joe, said this morning in a telephone interview.

But the aerial tour ended in tragedy after the plane disappeared in East Maui Saturday afternoon.

All four people aboard were found dead after the plane's wreckage was spotted in Nahiku yesterday morning.

FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Randy Betsill talked yesterday about his brother Steve Betsill, the pilot of the plane that crashed on Maui, killing all four people aboard. Betsill was at Maluhia Country Estates, about 10 miles north of Wailuku, where he, Steve and other family members had developed and built homes.

The four were identified as Stephen Betsill, 47, the sales and marketing manager for Betsill Brothers Construction Inc.; Jerry Betsill, a lawyer, Jerry's daughter Emma, 11; and Jerry's grandniece, Merideth Fenimore, 10.

Authorities retrieved their bodies yesterday from the crash site, about 200 yards mauka of Hana Highway near the 26.4-mile marker in Nahiku.

The Cessna Cardinal 177 left Kahului Airport about 2 p.m. Saturday.

Assistant Fire Chief Alan Cordeiro said air traffic controllers at Kahului Airport 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.

Rescuers had difficulty locating the signal from the emergency locator transmitter aboard the aircraft.

COURTESY OF KITV4 NEWS Steve Betsill: The Maui resident was known for his work with kids in Kihei

Police Detective Timothy Gapero said the bodies were lifted by helicopter from the site and taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center.

Gapero said the wreckage remained on the hillside awaiting examination by an investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Tweet Coleman, spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration in the Pacific, said two FAA inspectors from the Honolulu Flight Standards office were on Maui yesterday to conduct a preliminary investigation but decided not to go to the crash site because of its location.

The FAA inspectors are expected to return to the crash site with special equipment this afternoon to assist an investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB investigator is scheduled to arrive in Maui at noon to take over the investigation, Coleman said.

The crash site is near a dry riverbed with thick brush and trees, she said. "It's going to make it pretty difficult to reach that area," said Coleman. "They have to take extra precautions."

COURTESY OF KITV4 NEWS Jerry Betsill: The visiting Texas attorney was Steve Betsill's cousin

Coleman said the FAA did not have maintenance records on the plane that crashed, but in general the Cessna Cardinal 177 is considered safe.

Randy Betsill said his brother had taken his relatives on a scenic tour of Maui and was apparently traveling south around Haleakala before returning to Kahului Airport.

Betsill said he was aboard the Windward Aviation helicopter yesterday when the airplane was noticed in a cluster of trees. He was the first to hike into the site to verify that all four were dead.

Betsill said he does not know the cause of the crash, but described his brother as a cautious pilot who followed the rules meticulously. He said Stephen had been a pilot since last year and was studying to get his certification to fly by instruments.

Betsill said Stephen was certified to be a pilot under visual flight rules, and the day was clear for flying.

COURTESY OF KITV4 NEWS Emma Betsill: Age 11, died in the crash, along with her father, Jerry, and 2 relatives

Stephen Betsill and his wife, Trudee, who have two sons and two daughters, live on a hill at Maluhia Country Ranches in a cluster of houses occupied by other relatives.

Maui resident Alan Abdill said the Betsill brothers, including Stephen, have been active as coaches in Little League baseball and have an abiding Christian faith.

"They're a very close-knit Christian family," Abdill said.

Randy Betsill said his family's Christian faith has helped him and other relatives keep going under the darkest circumstances.

"We feel sorry for ourselves," he said, "but we are happy for those who died because we know they are with Jesus."

Cheryl Zarro, president of the Kihei Community Association, said Betsill was well known in the community. "I know Steve was somebody you can count on. ... It's really tragic," Zarro said.

Zarro's husband, Gene, added, "There's a big gaping hole in the community of Kihei right now."

In 1997, Betsill helped build the Kihei Youth Center and was a supporter of the charter school there.

COURTESY OF KITV4 NEWS Merideth Fenimore: Age 10, died in the crash during a tour with 3 relatives

Jerry Betsill's older brother, Joe, said today Jerry's wife, Laura, is in shock. She declined to join the plane tour because she's not the type who likes taking risks, he said.

The couple's anniversary celebration was to be special, Joe Betsill said, "because they were in a special place -- probably the most romantic place they'd ever been to."

Jerry's daughter, Emma, was an excellent athlete who "traveled all over Texas playing soccer" with little league teams, he said.

Merideth Fenimore, Emma's cousin and Jerry's grandniece, was "more of a reader," Joe Betsill said. The two girls were like sisters.

Randy Betsill said Jerry was not only his cousin, but also his best friend. "He was a great guy," Randy said.

Anton Stammberger, chief flight instructor at Maui Aviators, said he purchased the Cessna that crashed from Cynthia McCarthy, whose husband, Robert, died in a 1996 plane accident.

Stammberger said Robert McCarthy was heading toward Maui from Molokai at night in a Piper Seneca when he flew into Halawa Valley on Molokai. Officials of the NTSB determined McCarthy's accident was due to spatial disorientation and lack of interpreting the aircraft's instruments, he said.

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Star-Bulletin reporters Mary Vorsino and
Treena Shapiro contributed to this report.