Authorities identified the pilot of a small plane that crashed on a private Molokai ranch last week as John Weiser Jr., whose tour company was fined $50,000 in 2007 by the Federal Aviation Administration for running uncertified air tours.
Weiser had his pilot license revoked in 2009 by the FAA for various violations, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said in an email, after he crash-landed on Molokai and made a hard landing in Honolulu while piloting small planes earlier that year. The FAA found Weiser had operated an aircraft in a careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another and failed to accomplish a flight review. The agency also found Weiser had falsified, reproduced or altered applications, certificates, logbooks, reports or records.
Weiser, now about 79, has a current pilot license to fly, according to the FAA’s online database.
Weiser failed to report the Feb. 27 crash of a twin-engine Partenavia P68 Observer, which police said Weiser owns, Feb. 27 at Panda Ranch. Gregor said a man spotted the damaged aircraft March 1 and alerted the FAA. It is unknown whether the aircraft was taking off or landing.
The plane is owned by Affordable Casket Outlet LLC, doing business as Affordable Casket and Moanalua Mortuary in Mapunapuna, of which Weiser was a co-owner.
On Jan. 4, 2009, Weiser, while piloting a small plane at age 74, made a hard landing at Honolulu Airport. That plane, also owned by the mortuary, was used to scatter ashes. Weiser used it for a personal trip from Molokai and had a local male passenger, but no one was injured.
Weiser also crashed a small plane July 25, 2009, in Kaunakakai with one passenger aboard. No injuries were sustained.
The National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause to be pilot error.
In 2006 a small plane run by Weiser’s Tora Flight Adventures crashed just after takeoff from Panda Ranch’s airstrip. Two were injured, one critically. Weiser was not the pilot. His company was fined for not having the proper certification and was ordered days before the crash to cease operations.
Neither Weiser nor Claus Hansen, an officer of Affordable Casket, returned calls to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
