Pilot dies after
ocean landingA New Zealand man was on
a solo flight from Hilo to California
when he ran out of fuel
SAN FRANCISCO >> A pilot on a solo flight from Hawaii to California died yesterday when his small airplane specially outfitted for skydivers plunged into the Pacific Ocean about 310 miles off Monterey, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Three Air Force parajumpers who attempted a rescue in the chilly waters found Kelvin Stark, 58, of New Zealand, in the submerged cockpit of his overturned plane, said Veronica Bandrowsky, a Coast Guard spokeswoman.
Stark had attempted an emergency water landing around 9 a.m. after reporting that he did not have enough fuel to make land, said Coast Guard Lt. Geoff Borree. An airborne Coast Guard crew that coached him through the landing via radio watched and waited to drop him a raft, Borree said.
After Stark did not emerge, the Coast Guard called in the parajumpers, an Air Force plane and a commercial vessel that was the closest ship around to assist in a deep-sea rescue. The jumpers arrived about three hours later.
Borree, who was part of the seven-member rescue team, said it was unclear whether Stark was knocked unconscious on impact or became trapped in the plane.
His landing "wasn't violent at all," Borree said. "He obviously had some good piloting skills."
Stark was delivering the single-engine aircraft to Utility Aircraft Corp., a Woodland, Calif.-based company that converts planes for skydiving. He took off from Hilo and was to land the PAC 750XL aircraft at Davis University airport around 11 a.m., said Ray Ferrell, one of Utility Aircraft's owners. The airplane is made by Pacific Aerospace Corp., of Hamilton, New Zealand.
The airplane normally holds enough fuel for a 17-hour flight, but Stark started running low after about 11 hours and had about 45 minutes of flying time left when the Coast Guard team caught up with him at 10,000 feet, Borree said. Until then, Stark maintained radio contact with commercial jets flying from Hawaii to California.
"He seemed very calm throughout the whole ordeal," Borree said. "At one point, prior to us getting there, he gave a telephone number to the commercial pilots he was in contact with and asked for them to call his wife and tell her he loved her."
Because of rough sea conditions, the rescue team was unable to recover Stark's body, Bandrowsky said.
"It was too dangerous," she said. "There is nothing they can do."
Stark worked as an employee ferrying planes to customers for the New Zealand company. No other personal details were immediately available.
"He was a highly experienced pilot and had been doing these types of ferry flights for years," Ferrell said.
The loss of the aircraft was disheartening, Ferrell said, "but it's no comparison to the loss of Kelvin. He was a talented man."
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the accident.