Sadly, I received the following email this morning:
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Hello,
Linked to you searching for 542SP on Google. I spent last week in Maui and a week the same time in 2004. I flew 542SP 6 hrs. in December 2004, and 4 hrs. on Monday, December 12, 2005. The reason I was searching the tail number is that as we were walking through OGG to catch our commercial flight home I noticed a headline in the Maui News in the newspaper machine.
The headline read, "Body Retrieved From Scene of Crash".
As a pilot the word "crash" in any headline always catches my attention. I bought the paper and read the article and then followed up with some internet searches. Turned out that a man from Salt Lake City, Utah rented the airplane Thursday and crashed into terrain just above the Hana airport.
Sadly, he was killed and 542SP destroyed. I have flown many different airplanes in my 1000+ hours (SEL, MEL, INST, COMM) but this is the first I know of that is now destroyed. That in itself is sad, not to mention the loss of life of a fellow pilot.
I tried to post this on your Flightblog and received an error so I just thought I would copy and paste into this email.
Take Care,
David
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There was also a news article in the Maui News:
Pilot feared dead in Hana crash
HANA – A student pilot flying a single-engine plane is believed to have been killed Thursday in a crash on the slopes of Haleakala above Hana, Maui County rescue officials said.
Deputy Fire Chief Neal Bal said a rescue crew attempted to examine the site of the crash, estimated to be at 7,000 to 8,000 feet elevation on the northeast slopes, but was unable to locate the pilot or determine if there was anyone in the wreckage.
"It’s in a very precarious, inaccessible location," he said.
A rescue crew with the county Air One helicopter was called to the scene after several witnesses, including a pilot with Windward Aviation working in the area, reported the crash at about 3:45 p.m.
Bal said the site was so steep, the rescue crew was unable to get to the site safely. One rescue specialist was lowered by line to the wrecked plane, but was unable to examine the wreckage. Battalion Chief Frank Tam said a small fire was still smoldering around the plane.
"He had no way to deal with the fire, and he could not go into the wreckage while the fire was still burning, in case it ignited some gas or something," Tam said.
The Federal Aviation Administration has reported that the aircraft had only the pilot aboard, who is believed to be a student on a solo training flight.
The aircraft was reported to be a Cessna 172 belonging to Maui Aviators, a flight training and aircraft rental business based at the Kahului Airport. A worker with the business denied having any knowledge of a crash on Thursday afternoon.
The crash was reported by pilots of several aircraft transiting the area, as well as by witnesses at the Hana Airport who described seeing smoke and a fire on the ridge high up the slopes.
A miconia-eradication work crew from Haleakala National Park also reported seeing the crash, which they said was outside the park boundary.
Kiefer Gier, operations supervisor at the national park, said the work crew reported seeing flames around the crashed plane in an area that would be accessible only by hiking or by helicopter.
Bal said a fire-rescue crew likely will attempt to examine the site again today to locate the pilot, but he said any recovery effort will depend on instructions from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board.
The incident is the first aircraft fatality in Maui County since Oct. 17, 2004, when a twin-engine Cessna 310 crashed into the flank of Haleakala near Ulupalakua, killing the pilot.
The pilot in the 2004 crash, Ward Mareels of Oahu, had been flying between Oahu and the Big Island and had made a stop at Kahului Airport before taking off again for the Big Island at about 10:18 p.m.
http://mauinews.com/story.aspx?id=15213
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Our condolences to the friends and family of the pilot, as well as the owner of 542SP. :(