Kailua residents still reeling from the tragedy that occurred in their neighborhood watched Tuesday evening as crews removed the wreckage of the helicopter from Oneawa Street.
The helicopter, a four-seat Robinson R44 operated by Novictor Helicopters, crashed Monday morning in front of 745 Oneawa St., killing all on board. No one else was reported injured. Police and firefighters responded at about 9:12 a.m. Monday.
The three victims have been identified from various sources.
One is the 28-year-old pilot, Joseph Berridge, who had just moved to Honolulu from Albuquerque, N.M., to fly helicopter tours. His father, Bobby Berridge, said it was his son’s dream to move to Hawaii and that he had planned to fly here for several years.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office on Tuesday identified one of the two female passengers as Ryan McAuliffe, 28, of Chicago. Australian news reports cited family members in saying that the third victim was Jan Burgess, a grandmother and great-grandmother who was on vacation with other family members.
Jessica Lani Rich, president of the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii, said the passengers’ family members were en route to Hawaii and that she would be meeting with them.
Staff from the National Transportation Safety Board were at the site Tuesday morning but were not yet ready to make a statement Tuesday evening.
Residents meanwhile were still in shock that a helicopter landed in the middle of a street that they commute on daily — where kids walk to school and neighbors walk their dogs. Debris from the crash had landed in residents’ yards, and smashed the front end of a rental car and a garage door.
If it had happened an hour earlier, parents and kids would have been on their way to school, according to Glenn Grimes, who lives around the corner on Oneawa Place.
“It could have been a thousand times worse,” he said.
Grimes was at home Monday morning when he heard the crash.
“It was like a huge bolt — snap, pop,” he said. “And when it crashed it was like a big rig’s load came unhooked off its truck … like a load coming undone of heavy metal.”
By the time he ran out, neighbors had their water hoses out, and one of the bodies had been pulled out. He said helicopters fly over the neighborhood daily, and he was concerned about it.
“It was a very close call, and there’s no words to describe it other than just tragic,” said Veronica Winegarner, who lives in a home on the private lane fronting the helicopter wreckage.
On Monday morning she was at home when she heard the loud bang.
“It struck a chord with me because I lost my sister 2-1/2 years ago in a similar tragic accident — not airplane, but car-related,” she said. “So my heart goes out to the families, you know, and the people who got the news and the people who passed away and the fear they were feeling in those last moments.”
She said many in the neighborhood are shaken up.
Diana Atondo, a Kalama Street resident, saw the wreckage for the first time Tuesday evening. She was at work in town when she learned of the crash on the radio. She said she was just relieved it wasn’t worse.
“I just think of what they were probably going through, knowing it was going to happen,” she said. “I’m sure the pilot probably tried to do the best he could.”
Legislators meanwhile are pushing for more regulations over tour helicopters, and questioned whether they should routinely fly over residential neighborhoods.
State Rep. Cynthia Thielen, along with state Sens. Stanley Chang, Jarrett Keohokalole, Gil Riviere and Laura Thielen, requested the immediate grounding of all tour and commercial helicopter operations in the state until the investigation into the crash is completed.
On Monday, Thielen wrote a letter to the state’s congressional representatives. The senators directed their letter to the state Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration.
“Residents throughout our state have long complained about the lack (of) flight plans and rules regulating commercial and tour helicopters,” said Thielen in her letter. “Concerns vary from general annoyance to fears of aircraft falling from the sky. Today their worst fears were realized.”
U.S. Rep. Ed Case on Tuesday wrote a letter to Raquel Girvin, regional administrator of the FAA, urging the government to provide the options it could take currently and following the conclusion of the investigation to protect the public.
Case had already had concerns about the growing number of helicopter tours. Earlier in April he had written a letter expressing “rapidly accelerating concerns with increasing helicopter tours throughout Hawaii” and the “apparent widespread disregard by tour operators for minimum altitude restrictions.”
Nicole Vandelaar, who founded Novictor in 2011, said, “This accident is heartbreaking for everyone, especially the families and friends of the passengers and pilot, who was part of our Novictor family. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of them.”
“The safety and welfare of our personnel and passengers are our top priority,” she said in an emailed statement. “We are actively cooperating with the authorities to determine the cause of this accident, including working closely with the FAA and the NTSB in their investigation.”
The Associated Press and Star-Advertiser reporter Rosemarie Bernardo contributed to this report.
