A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said it may take months to determine the cause of Tuesday’s powered hang glider crash that likely killed its pilot and passenger. Spokesman Ian Gregor said that while the bodies of a man
A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said it may take months to determine the cause of Tuesday’s powered hang glider crash that likely killed its pilot and passenger.
Spokesman Ian Gregor said that while the bodies of a man and woman were recovered from wreckage found off Kaua‘i’s South Shore on Wednesday, he believes the craft remains in 90 to 100 feet of water. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation.
Removing the wreckage from the ocean will be up to the aircraft owner or insurer, Gregor added.
“Neither NTSB nor FAA pays for that,” he wrote in an e-mail to The Garden Island.
According to a Wednesday county press release, rescuers did not remove an engine found next to the two bodies.
Keith Holloway, a spokesman for the Safety Board, said he had no new information about how the crash occurred.
“We don’t speculate,” he said. “We will look at everything … but it’s too early at this point to determine what may have caused this accident.”
He believed remnants of the plane remained in the water.
The final say on whether the bodies are 55-year-old Jim Gaither — owner of Big Sky Kaua‘i and pilot of the “trike” hang glider that crashed Tuesday morning — and passenger Kim Buergel, 49, of Spokane, Wash., may also take some time.
County spokeswoman said the bodies were found strapped into the remains of an aircraft, and had been in the water for hours before they were recovered just before 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
“Depending on the condition of the bodies, dental records may have to be used in order to positively ID them,” Blane said.
She said she will know by today how long the identification will take.
