Pilot error likely cause of crash, agency says
WAILUKU, Maui — Pilot error was the likely cause of a fatal airplane crash on Molokai, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
Pilot Bill Vogt’s decision to fly under visual flight rules into an area of clouds and rain that required instrument flight was the probable cause of the December 2017 accident.
Vogt, 78, and his 74-year-old wife, Lynn, were killed when the single-engine Textron Aviation aircraft crashed into remote mountainous terrain more than 3 miles southwest of the Molokai Airport, the federal agency said.
There was no evidence suggesting Vogt obtained a weather briefing before departing Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport about 10:30 a.m., the NTSB said.
Vogt requested an instrument approach to Molokai Airport while also noting he was “right on the edge” of visual flight and had “pretty good visibility,” the report said.
The plane was destroyed by fire, but an examination of the frame and engine revealed no evidence of mechanical problems, the NTSB said.
An autopsy indicated the pilot had severe heart disease. But the report said it was unlikely symptoms from Vogt’s heart disease contributed to the crash.
Army program helps save native plant species
HONOLULU — The U.S. Army’s natural resources program helped save three native plant species from extinction, officials said.
The Army helped preserve the haha plant, Hawaiian mint and tree aster as part of its ongoing management of more than 120 endangered and threatened native species.
Schofield Barracks in Honolulu has greenhouses with endangered and threatened plants and a seed lab that maintains 12 million seeds, including some in cryonic storage at minus 112 degrees.
Army efforts helped reestablish wild populations of the haha, which was critically endangered, said Paul Smith, a natural resources biologist.