Panic may have led
to tourist’s death

A tour plane passenger died in 2000
after the craft ditched in the sea

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By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.com

HILO >> An Oklahoma woman who died when her tour plane ditched in the ocean near Hilo in 2000 apparently froze in fear when the plane hit the water, a National Transportation Safety Board report suggests.

The body of Laveta Rose Reynolds, 61, was found inside the Piper Navajo Chieftain when it was pulled from the sea three days after ditching about three miles northwest of Hilo airport on Aug. 25. The pilot and seven other passengers escaped without serious injuries.

An NTSB official said after the accident that Reynolds' life vest was inflated in the plane, possibly making escape difficult.

But an undated interim report on the NTSB Web site gives a different picture.

Reynolds' husband, Jim, told the NTSB that his wife "was not a swimmer." He said his wife looked frightened after the plane hit the water, according to the report.

Another passenger heard Reynolds inflate her vest after the impact. "He added that once he exited the airplane, he looked back and saw her sitting still, with her seat belt still fastened and her life vest inflated," the report said.

The plane was on a circle-island tour starting in Kona when the 5:35 p.m. ditching took place. An official later said the apparent cause was the failure of an oil filter gasket on one of the plane's two engines.

The interim report says the plane's engine manufacturer, Textron Lycoming, focused on the gasket after a similar engine failure in Alaska. An investigation showed a gasket supplier used materials that did not meet Textron Lycoming specifications, the report says.

A final report is due Feb. 18.

Last year, four members of the Taylor family, of Michigan, who survived the ditching sued the plane's operator, Big Island Air, and others. Reynolds' husband was not part of the suit.