Crash puzzles pilots

WAILUKU » Pilots who knew Ward M. Mareels said they're baffled why a man with such flight qualifications would crash into Haleakala on Maui.

"He was very experienced. He's been flying here for many, many years," said Henry "Hank" Bruckner, an aerobatics flying instructor for Kaimana Aviation in Honolulu.

Bruckner said he's known Mareels for 14 years and described him as "thorough" and very familiar with Hawaii.

Mareels, 54, of Kailua died shortly after his twin-engine Cessna 310 took off from Kahului Airport en route to Kailua-Kona on the Big Island at 9:18 p.m. Sunday.

The airplane, which lost radio contact at 9:24 p.m., crashed at the 3,700-foot level in a rolling hillside pasture owned by talk show host Oprah Winfrey, mauka of her Silver Cloud Ranch home.

Some neighbors said they didn't understand why he was flying low, about 200 feet above tree tops, and in a level direction toward the mountain, when their houses lighted the nearby slope and the weather was clear.

Mareels was thrown from the aircraft, and the Cessna exploded upon impact, sending a fireball of flames above a grove of avocado trees.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Donn Walker said Mareels had a number of qualifications as a pilot and flight instructor.

Mareels was qualified not only to teach instrument flying for single and multi-engine aircraft, but also to pilot a commercial aircraft, Walker said.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Tealeye Cornejo yesterday said Mareels was flying by visual flight rules and had not filed a flight plan.

Cornejo said while there have been reports of clear weather, there also was no moon at the time of the crash.

Cornejo said an autopsy conducted Tuesday showed no indications of health problems.

She said Mareels did not indicate he was having any problems and his last radio contact before the crash informed the Federal Aviation Administration control tower that he was leaving 3,000 feet and increasing altitude.

Cornejo said she visited the vicinity of the crash site yesterday and plans to examine the scene of the crash today, including the wreckage.

"There's still a lot of work to be done," she said.

Maui police Lt. Glenn Cuomo said he didn't know Mareels' health history or why Mareels was flying from Maui to the Big Island.

"I don't think we're going to get any easy quick answers," Cuomo said.

Robert Moore, the owner of Moore Air, said flying in the islands by visual flight rules can be treacherous, especially at night.

"I believe flying at night in Hawaii is a very tough flying experience, because you lack visual references or clues and you don't know where any obstacles are ... under visual flight rules," he said.