Four Passengers Not Seriously Hurt
A tour helicopter made a
hard landing Saturday on the lawn of celebrity chef Bev Gannon's
estate in Makawaio, Maui in Hawaii shortly after takeoff.
The Sunshine Helicopters EC130 B4 (file photo of type,
right) had been chartered for a New Jersey corporate group and none
of the four men and two women aboard was seriously injured. As a
precaution, all were taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center, police
Lt. Jimmy Bell said.
Witness and neighbor Al Schwartz, a ceramics artist who lives
next to Gannon's property, told the Honolulu Advertiser he came out
of his studio after hearing a loud helicopter noise about 3:45 pm.
Two helicopters landed on Gannon's lawn and sat for about 10
minutes with their rotors spinning while taking on passengers, he
said.
"The first one took off and went over the pineapple fields.
About three minutes later, the second one started to take off in
the same direction and hit the corner of the yard," Schwartz said.
"I never saw it get above the trees."
According to Schwartz, the second helicopter apparently made
contact with a jacaranda tree at a height of 10 to 20 feet then
crashed to the ground. "The noise was incredible," he said, noting
winds were gusty at the time.
Some on the crowd that had gathered on Gannon's lawn to watch
the aircraft leave began screaming Schwartz said. "There were some
scared people," he said. "One lady was hysterical. I think her
husband was on the helicopter."
None of the passengers seemed hurt, although a female passenger
was taken away from the scene on a stretcher but was later seen
walking around, he said.
Sunshine Helicopters officials on scene declined to comment to
the Advertiser.
The helicopters were transporting people from the property to a
Kapalua resort and were part of a corporate group of about 50
people from Princeton, NJ, Bell said. It is unknown why they were
on the Gannon property. Gannon could not be reached for comment
according to the newspaper.
Gannon, along with her husband Joe, owns the Hali'imaile General
Store and Joe's Bar & Grill restaurants on Maui and is also one
of the founders of the Pacific Regional Cuisine movement.
IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 130WS
Make/Model: EC13 Description:
EUROCOPTER
Date: 04/20/2007 Time: 0151
Event Type: Accident Highest Injury:
None Mid Air: N Missing:
N
Damage: Substantial
LOCATION
City: MAKAWAO State: HI Country:
US
DESCRIPTION
SUNSHINE HELICOPTERS, N130WS, A EUROCOPTER EC140 ROTORCRAFT,
EXPERIENCED
POWER PROBLEM AT AND CRASHED INTO A YARD, NO INJURIES
REPORTED, MAKAWAO,
MAUI, HI
INJURY DATA Total
Fatal: 0
# Crew: 1 Fat:
0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
# Pass: 5 Fat:
0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
# Grnd:
Fat: 0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
WEATHER: 04019G29 10SM FEW090 27/17 A3003
OTHER DATA
Activity: Unknown Phase:
Unknown Operation: OTHER
Departed: KAHULUI,
HI
Dep Date: Dep.
Time:
Destination: MAKAWAO,
HI
Flt
Plan:
Wx Briefing:
Last Radio Cont:
Last Clearance:
FAA FSDO: HONOLULU, HI
(WP13)
Entry date: 04/23/2007
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