Molokai crash inquiry
awaits retrieval
of wrecked plane

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By Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com

WAILUKU >> The investigation into the cause of a fatal single-engine plane crash on Molokai has been delayed until the insurance company can have the wreckage retrieved.

Meanwhile, Maui police detectives were waiting for a medical examiner's report confirming the identity of the body pulled from the wreckage Monday afternoon. The plane was being flown to Kahului from Honolulu by 17-year-old student pilot Chezray Hayes when it disappeared Saturday afternoon.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Nicole Charnon said the Los Angeles insurance company initially refused to retrieve the wreckage from a remote area in northeast Molokai.

Charnon said after she talked with the company yesterday it decided to try to find a business willing to retrieve the wreckage at a reasonable cost.

She said she didn't know the cost of retrieving the wreckage but knew the price of renting a turbine engine helicopter is about $700 an hour.

Charnon said she hoped the wreckage would be retrieved today and brought to the Molokai Airport for examination.

She said the NTSB has a policy of not paying for the retrieval of wreckage.

"We don't have the money to do that," she said.

The wreckage is located in a steep area at about the 1,500-foot level on the west side of Manuahi Ridge near Pelekunu Valley, Maui fire Capt. Frank Tam said.

Fire crews had to rappel down 380 feet to retrieve the body near the wreckage, Tam said.

Charnon said without examining the wreckage, she would have less information to determine the cause of the accident but she could still file a report reviewing other evidence, including photographs taken at the crash scene.

Charnon said it was too early to say if foul weather was a factor in the crash.

But she said she has been gathering flight information, including weather reports from Molokai, Maui and Honolulu, and also plans to look at weather forecasts prepared last Saturday.

Coast Guard pilot Lt. Kevin Kerney said Manuahi Ridge was too cloudy above the 400-foot level Saturday for a safe and thorough search at higher elevations.

Kerney said when he looked at the wreckage Monday, the airplane appeared to have flown straight into the ridge, then slid down 10 to 15 feet.

An official with a flying school on Oahu had canceled flights by midmorning Saturday because of the weather and poor visibility.