LIHUE — The owner of Safari Helicopters said he and his team are devastated by Thursday’s helicopter crash that claimed seven lives.
“Not just myself, but the entire family here at Safari Helicopters has been affected,” said Preston Myers in an interview with The Garden Island on Saturday. “I keep wondering what we could’ve done better that we have not done in the more than 30 years we’ve been here.”
The pilot at the time of the crash was Paul Matero, 69, a longtime employee with Safari, their chief pilot, with 12 years of experience on Kauai. He was planning to retire in July, Myers said.
Myers said not only was Matero a certified pilot, he was also a certified mechanic, arriving on Kauai with a history of helicopter work on the mainland, including flying for utility work like tree removals, agricultural work and passenger flying.
“He was totally experienced,” Myers said. “It’s still very hard to accept. He trained all of our pilots about the uncertainty of Kauai’s weather. We were training a new chief pilot who arrived here from Montana.”
Matero and two of the six
passengers, Amy Gannon, 47, and Jocelyn Gannon, 13, of Wisconsin, have been identified. The four other passengers are believed to be a family from Switzerland, and their identities have not been released by officials.
“We mourn with the family members of those who were lost in the tragic accident,” Myers said in a press release.
“The family of two of the passengers are still here, and we’re working with them,” Myers said. “The other passengers are from Europe and everything, including our insurance agency, has been referred to the Swiss embassy.”
The Safari helicopter was reported overdue Thursday evening at 6 p.m. while conducting a tour over Napali Coast.
The last contact with the helicopter was made about 4:40 p.m. when the pilot relayed that the tour was leaving the Waimea Canyon area.
“We don’t know what happened up there,” Myers said. “When we didn’t hear from him, we thought he had landed to sit out the weather. This is part of the pilot training — never head into bad weather. Paul is the one who trains our pilots on this. The final decision is always on the pilot, not someone sitting in a room trying to tell them what to do.”
Myers said the weather Thursday was “clear as a bell.”
“That was here in Lihue,” Myers said. “I was told by a pilot who left around 4:21 p.m. that there was weather coming in rapidly from Polihale. We thought our helicopter had landed to sit out this weather in some remote location where radio or cell phone service was not possible.”
Aircraft integrity was also not a consideration for the crash, Myers said.
“We had our aircraft inspected last week with the results recorded with the Federal Aviation Administration,” Myers said. “The craft involved in the accident was bought brand new in 1998 and maintained to our standard with major overhauls being done on time. This is like buying a car — you never expect it to run without even getting a flat. We took care of any of the mechanical problems as soon as it happened.”
Myers said Safari Helicopters would like to express its appreciation to members of the U.S. Coast Guard, the Kauai Fire Department, and many of our colleagues in the helicopter community who volunteered their help in the search operations.
“Safari is fully cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA to determine the cause of Thursday’s crash,” Myers said. “Safari is a family-owned-and-operated business. We are proud to have participated in the development of the helicopter tour industry since 1987. Our prayers and love go out to all that have been affected by this tragedy.”
Safari has ceased its operations while it gets through the initial phases of the investigation.
“We’re planning for a memorial service for everyone,” Myers said. “This is not just for the families of the accident victims, but for the community, for all who have been affected. This will take place on or about Jan. 2. We’ll talk about resuming operation after that.”
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
