Civilian copter pilot
killed on KahoolaweA cable used to pick up equipment got
stuck in the tail rotor blade of the Bell 205
A civilian helicopter pilot was killed yesterday when his chopper crashed on Kahoolawe.
It was the first fatality on Kahoolawe since the government began clearing unexploded ordnance from the island five years ago.
The pilot was identified as Gary D. Freeman, 55, of Lipan, Texas, who worked for Pacific Helicopter Tours, Inc., owner of the helicopter.
Lt. Cmdr. Jane Campbell, Navy spokeswoman, said the crash occurred at 11:50 a.m. when a cable used to pick up equipment got stuck in the tail rotor blade of the single-engine Bell 205.
The Bell 205 is a civilian version of the military's UH-1N Huey. Two of them were being used by Pacific Helicopter on Kahoolawe.
Tweet Coleman, Federal Aviation Agency spokeswoman, said the helicopter had just dropped a load at the heliport built and maintained by Parson/UXB on the south side of Kahoolawe and was returning to Maui.
She said the helicopter had climbed to 2,000 feet when it experienced trouble and crashed on its rotor blade upside down. The crash site was said to be close to a bay on the northwest end of the island.
"It rolled over and burned immediately," she said.
Howard Esterbrook, Pacific Helicopter's director of operations, attributed the cause of the accident to "human factors, pilot-type" and strong winds.
"I know it was pretty turbulent," Esterbrook said.
Coleman described Freeman as a "very experienced" and responsible pilot who had flown the same route many times.
Esterbrook said Freeman had piloted helicopters for 35 years and worked for his firm off an on for 10 years.
Freeman was a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War and later did a lot of industrial lifts and flew to remote areas in the world, including the jungles of New Guinea, the mountains of Nepal, and forest fires in California, Esterbrook said.
Campbell said the National Transportation Safety Board will not investigate the accident, and the company will be allowed to remove the wreckage. The FAA has two investigators on the scene.
Demolition work on the island was canceled and will be resumed on Tuesday.
The Navy is close to completing a $400 million clearing project on Kahoolawe and has repeatedly described it as "the largest Department of Defense unexploded ordnance project in the world." On Nov. 11 the Navy will transfer control of the island to the state.
As part of the cleanup, the Navy contracted Pacific Helicopter, which over the past four years has billed the Kahului-to-Kahoolawe 6-mile shuttle as the largest civilian helicopter operation in the United States.
Last year, the Navy said about 375 people were commuting four days a week by helicopter to work on Kahoolawe.
Star-Bulletin reporter Gary Kubota contributed to this report.