Cable entanglement
rare in copter crashes
WAILUKU >> A Federal Aviation Administration official said the cable entanglement that led to a fatal crash of a helicopter on Kahoolawe was an uncommon occurrence.
"It's one of those isolated incidents," Tweet Coleman, the FAA's Pacific area representative, said yesterday.
What makes the incident even more difficult to comprehend is that the entanglement happened to a helicopter driven by an experienced and respected pilot, pilots said.
Gary D. Freeman, 55, of Lipan, Texas, had more than 35 years of experience, including 10 years flying off and on for Pacific Helicopter Tours Inc. of Maui.
FAA investigators plan to complete their review of records next week, including maintenance, medical, and flight records.
Coleman said a National Transportation Safety Board investigator will review the documents and file a preliminary report about the crash.
Freeman, who lived part of the year in Pukalani, Maui, had dropped off a load on the south side of the island and was traveling to another part of the island about 11:50 a.m. Thursday when the cable used to deliver equipment got entangled in the tail rotor, Pacific Helicopter said.
The helicopter fell from about 2,000 feet, hit the ground, rolled over and burned, federal officials said.
Howard Esterbrook, Pacific Helicopter's director of operations, attributed the cause of the accident to "human factors, pilot-type" and also the wind.
"I know it was pretty turbulent," Esterbrook said.
Esterbrook said Freeman was a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War and later did a lot of industrial jobs in remote areas in the world, including the jungles of New Guinea, the mountains of Nepal, and forest fires in California.
"He was a very experienced and respected pilot. He will be very sorely missed by our company and all that knew him," Esterbrook said. "He was a neat guy to talk to."
The work done by Freeman was part of a $400 million effort to clean 28,799-acre Kahoolawe of unexploded ordnance. Kahoolawe served as a weapons range from 1941 to 1990.
It was the first fatality on the island since the government began clearing the former target island about five years ago.
The Navy is expected to return Kahoolawe to state control on Nov. 11.
Besides industrial lifts, Pacific Helicopter shuttles hundreds of people four days a week between Kahului and Kahoolawe.