Friends pay tribute to pilot who dies in Kauai crash

The crash of an ultralight aircraft on Kauai that killed two people Tuesday marked the seventh in Hawaii involving weight-shift control aircraft since 2010.

Friends identified the pilot killed Tuesday as Gerry Charle­bois, owner of Birds in Paradise.

"He was a 35-year veteran of the air," said longtime friend Dave Goto. "His flying was as good as it gets. He was the best of the best. Everyone held him in high regard as far as his safety and teaching ability. He’s succeeded where others have fallen by the wayside.

"He was a pioneer of that ultralight industry here," his equipment was always state of the art and his routine maintenance was top-notch, he said.

Kauai County officials were alerted by a caller to a fire and smoke caused by the crash on the side of a mountain near Poli­hale Beach around 9 a.m.

The ultralight Evolution Trikes Revo aircraft crashed under unknown circumstances, said Ian Gregor, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman.

Flight student Alex Allen witnessed what he recognized as an ultralight while working at Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands.

Allen was checking the hangar when he saw "an ultralight circling about a mile north of the field," near World War II bunkers, and said to himself, "What in the world is he looking at? There’s nothing to see."

"I saw a lot of smoke and said, ‘Hey, is that a fire?’" Allen said. He called the county, and shortly thereafter the Fire Department arrived.

He estimated the aircraft had been circling at "fairly high altitude," roughly 1,000 to 1,500 feet, and landed about 500 to 1,000 feet midway up a ridge.

FAA records show the aircraft is registered to Birds in Paradise, 1793 Maka­leha Place.

Two FAA investigators were sent to Kauai to begin the crash investigation, which also will include the National Transportation Safety Board.

FAA rules authorize so-called weight-shift control aircraft, known as "trikes," to carry student pilots for flight instruction, but they are not authorized for commercial air tours. In 2011, after the fifth crash in 18 months, the FAA developed a surveillance plan to step up enforcement of flight regulations for trikes after finding that some operators were offering scenic flights under the guise of introductory flying instructions.

Charlebois, a Canadian native, saw Goto in a hang gliding contest in 1979 in Vancouver, British Columbia. They met, and he came to Hawaii in the early 1980s.

"We’re all aware these are high-risk sports," Goto said. "Any time you have aviation, you put yourself out there, especially in competition."

Another longtime friend, Dave Neto, said they met hang-gliding at Maka­puu in the early 1980s. He worked with Charle­bois building cedar houses and homestead houses in Wai­anae and Nana­kuli.

Charlebois later went on to fly powered hang gliders on the competition circuit on the mainland and in other countries, he said.

Neto said he wonders why Charlebois did not deploy his parachute, which uses compressed air to fire out, reaching full extension in less than half a second.

He said another pilot, who worked for Charle­bois, was injured 1 1/2 to two years ago after getting lost in the clouds and hitting a hillside, and suspects it may have happened Tuesday.

"I have no family here," said Neto, who kept close with Charle­bois and other friends who fly, including another friend he lost Feb. 10 in a paragliding accident.

"These people are like my family," he said. "It’s always tough."

Neto and Goto said Charle­bois leaves behind a wife.

The Garden Island reported Charle­bois, a Screen Actors Guild member, and Julie Mann starred in an episode of "Buying Hawaii," a reality TV show, showing the couple looking for a property with an open field to launch his powered hang glider.

On the Birds in Paradise website, Charle­bois said the 100-horsepower SLSA (Special Light Sport Aircraft) was added to the fleet in April 2010. He says the Revo is "one of the best weight-shift-control aircraft (trike) on the market for comfort, flight performance and airplane-like handling and stability."

"This aircraft offers great responsiveness throughout a range of speed with feather light control input and effortless cruise up to 100 mph," the website says.

Charlebois said on the website that he is an FAA-certified flight Instructor, an FAA-certified mechanic and a certified Rotax aircraft engine technician. He is also a Master Rated Hang Glider Pilot by the U.S. Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association. He said he maintains all of the aircraft for Birds in Paradise.

According to the website, Charle­bois started flying hang gliders in 1978. A year later he began teaching hang gliding on Oahu’s North Shore.

He founded Birds in Paradise on Kauai in 1990, offering tandem hang gliding. In 1993, Birds in Paradise began offering powered gliding and, since that time, Charle­bois said he had logged more than 17,000 hours operating ultralight trikes and sharing the experience with more than 22,000 Birds in Paradise clients.

The accident Tuesday was the seventh crash in Hawaii since 2010. Three of the crashes occurred on the Garden Isle, resulting in six of the state’s eight fatalities.

» On Feb. 15, 2011, Big Sky Kauai owner Jim Gaither and passenger Kim Buergel of Spokane, Wash., died in a crash in the ocean off Kala­heo in West Kauai. A witness said the aircraft was flying at an altitude of 150 feet when it dived into the ocean.

» On May 17, 2011, a Kauai Aerosports aircraft crashed into the ocean off Kauai’s North Shore, killing pilot Steve Sprague and passenger Ray Foreman of Vista, Calif.

» On April 21, 2010, Kathryn Moran of Kailua-Kona was killed along with pilot Tedd Robert Hecklin of Tedd’s Flying Adventures in a crash at Keala­ke­kua Bay in West Hawaii.