Couple missing after Hawaii copter crash
The Morning Journal
Couple missing after Hawaii copter crash
MIKE SAKAL , Morning Journal Writer 09/27/2004
Thomas J. Huemmer, 36, a lawyer from the firm of Wickens Herzer Panza Cook & Batista in Avon, and his girlfriend, a 30-year-old Westlake woman, are among five people missing after a helicopter crash on a mountainside on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, Friday evening, Huemmer's father, Frank Huemmer of Brecksville, confirmed yesterday.
Frank Huemmer said he received a phone call from his son's girlfriend's father about 2 p.m. Saturday informing him that authorities on Kauai were going to launch a search and rescue mission for the helicopter and those on it.
''We're all praying, and we hope everyone else is, too,'' Frank Huemmer said last night. ''It's a very serious, grim situation.
''The helicopter took off about 4 p.m. Friday and was scheduled to return at 4:45. At 6:05 p.m., when they still weren't back, it was determined that there was a problem,'' Huemmer said.
The call came soon after authorities discovered the crash site, Huemmer said, and the family and colleagues of Huemmer are hoping and praying that all five of the people on the helicopter will be found alive.
However, search and rescue efforts by the Kauai Fire Department have been hindered since Friday because of heavy winds and rain and difficulty navigating the rugged terrain where the helicopter crashed at a 2,700-foot elevation, according to Kauai acting fire Chief Bob Kaden.
The crash site is sloped on a 60-degree angle on a remote mountainside over ''very rugged terrain'' along the Hahilia Mountain Range north of Kapalaoa Point, about eight miles north of Port Allen Harbor, Kaden said.
The exact time of the crash is not known.
However, Kaden said someone who reviewed the crash site from the air, described the crash as one with ''severe impact.''
Huemmer, who lives in Avon, and his girlfriend were vacationing in Hawaii with his girlfriend's parents and were on the helicopter for a 45-minute sight-seeing tour, Frank Huemmer said.
The girlfriend's parents and her sister were on a first helicopter ride, which returned from the sight-seeing tour, but the second trip, which Huemmer and his girlfriend were on, didn't return, Frank Huemmer said.
Huemmer, who grew up in Brecksville, is a 1986 graduate of St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, his father said.
Huemmer also graduated with honors from Villanova University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in liberal studies before getting his law degree from Case Western Reserve in 1994.
Huemmer, who had worked with the Cook and Batista law firm, has worked as a litigation attorney for Wickens Herzer Panza Cook & Batista since the Wickens, Herzer and Panza firm merged with it three years ago, said lawyer Richard D. Panza. Huemmer is a member of the Lorain County and Ohio State bar associations, according to his firm's Web site.
Frank Huemmer declined to provide the name of his son's girlfriend, citing her privacy.
The Bali Hai Helicopter Tours helicopter left Burns Field at Hanapepe near Port Allen at 4:05 p.m. Friday, according to Cyndi Ozaki, a spokeswoman for Kauai County.
The tour helicopter was headed to the Na Pali Coast, Hanalei Valley, Mount Waialeale crater and Hanapepe Valley, Ozaki said.
Recovery efforts began at 6 a.m. yesterday but were called off at 1:10 p.m. because of heavy winds, Kaden said. The Kauai Island Fire Department is waiting on helicopter assistance from the U.S. Army base on Oahu, Kaden said.
Recovery efforts should resume early today, Kaden said.
''At this point, we have suspended the recovery efforts,'' Kaden said. ''We are extremely disappointed that that we weren't able to complete recovery. We feel bad for the families of those on the helicopter. We just feel that the weather conditions have created a situation beyond our capabilities, and we would like to stay within the means of safety.
''We are trying to insert some of our men near the site, about a quarter mile from it, but we don't know if our aircraft can handle the conditions,'' Kaden added. ''We have a Hughes 500 aircraft, but we are trying to enlist the help of a AH-60 Medovac helicopter from the U.S. Army that is similar in style to a Black Hawk helicopter. They may not be able to assist us until Monday morning, but, when they do, we'll be using our men.''
Huemmer said he and his wife, Carole, have been looking at the Internet and following news of the crash, and he said he was hopeful after seeing a photograph of the crash sight in yesterday's Internet edition of the Honolulu Advertiser newspaper.
''When I read Saturday's story about the crash, it said that the helicopter was burned beyond recognition,'' Huemmer said. ''When I saw the article on the Internet from Sunday's paper, the picture of the crash site clearly shows the helicopter's fuselage.
''Seeing the picture in Sunday's Honolulu Advertiser gives us more hope that maybe some miracle may happen,'' Huemmer added. ''The crash site didn't look as bad as they described. We are clinging on to hope.''
Ozaki said yesterday that the island's fire department's efforts are being called a recovery mission.
''We're calling it a recovery mission, but we're always hopeful that there are survivors,'' Ozaki said.
None of the authorities on Kauai would release any of the names of the passengers of the helicopter or the pilot's name.
However, Ozaki said those on the plane were a 36-year-old man and 30-year-old woman, both from the United States, a German couple and the pilot.
A man who answered the phone at Bali Hai Helicopter Tours in Hawaii yesterday declined to comment.
Lawyer Dave Wiersma, Huemmer's colleague at Wickens Herzer Panza Cook & Batista, said that Huemmer ''is a fine young man and an excellent lawyer.''
Dave Herzer, attorney for Wickens Herzer Panza Cook & Batista, provided a statement from the firm.
''Tom is a great young man, and a wonderful lawyer,'' Herzer said. ''As an entire firm, we are hoping and praying by some miracle they are all still alive. Our prayers, love and hope go out to all of the family and friends of those who were on the helicopter.
Couple missing after Hawaii copter crash
MIKE SAKAL , Morning Journal Writer 09/27/2004
Thomas J. Huemmer, 36, a lawyer from the firm of Wickens Herzer Panza Cook & Batista in Avon, and his girlfriend, a 30-year-old Westlake woman, are among five people missing after a helicopter crash on a mountainside on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, Friday evening, Huemmer's father, Frank Huemmer of Brecksville, confirmed yesterday.
Frank Huemmer said he received a phone call from his son's girlfriend's father about 2 p.m. Saturday informing him that authorities on Kauai were going to launch a search and rescue mission for the helicopter and those on it.
''We're all praying, and we hope everyone else is, too,'' Frank Huemmer said last night. ''It's a very serious, grim situation.
''The helicopter took off about 4 p.m. Friday and was scheduled to return at 4:45. At 6:05 p.m., when they still weren't back, it was determined that there was a problem,'' Huemmer said.
The call came soon after authorities discovered the crash site, Huemmer said, and the family and colleagues of Huemmer are hoping and praying that all five of the people on the helicopter will be found alive.
However, search and rescue efforts by the Kauai Fire Department have been hindered since Friday because of heavy winds and rain and difficulty navigating the rugged terrain where the helicopter crashed at a 2,700-foot elevation, according to Kauai acting fire Chief Bob Kaden.
The crash site is sloped on a 60-degree angle on a remote mountainside over ''very rugged terrain'' along the Hahilia Mountain Range north of Kapalaoa Point, about eight miles north of Port Allen Harbor, Kaden said.
The exact time of the crash is not known.
However, Kaden said someone who reviewed the crash site from the air, described the crash as one with ''severe impact.''
Huemmer, who lives in Avon, and his girlfriend were vacationing in Hawaii with his girlfriend's parents and were on the helicopter for a 45-minute sight-seeing tour, Frank Huemmer said.
The girlfriend's parents and her sister were on a first helicopter ride, which returned from the sight-seeing tour, but the second trip, which Huemmer and his girlfriend were on, didn't return, Frank Huemmer said.
Huemmer, who grew up in Brecksville, is a 1986 graduate of St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, his father said.
Huemmer also graduated with honors from Villanova University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in liberal studies before getting his law degree from Case Western Reserve in 1994.
Huemmer, who had worked with the Cook and Batista law firm, has worked as a litigation attorney for Wickens Herzer Panza Cook & Batista since the Wickens, Herzer and Panza firm merged with it three years ago, said lawyer Richard D. Panza. Huemmer is a member of the Lorain County and Ohio State bar associations, according to his firm's Web site.
Frank Huemmer declined to provide the name of his son's girlfriend, citing her privacy.
The Bali Hai Helicopter Tours helicopter left Burns Field at Hanapepe near Port Allen at 4:05 p.m. Friday, according to Cyndi Ozaki, a spokeswoman for Kauai County.
The tour helicopter was headed to the Na Pali Coast, Hanalei Valley, Mount Waialeale crater and Hanapepe Valley, Ozaki said.
Recovery efforts began at 6 a.m. yesterday but were called off at 1:10 p.m. because of heavy winds, Kaden said. The Kauai Island Fire Department is waiting on helicopter assistance from the U.S. Army base on Oahu, Kaden said.
Recovery efforts should resume early today, Kaden said.
''At this point, we have suspended the recovery efforts,'' Kaden said. ''We are extremely disappointed that that we weren't able to complete recovery. We feel bad for the families of those on the helicopter. We just feel that the weather conditions have created a situation beyond our capabilities, and we would like to stay within the means of safety.
''We are trying to insert some of our men near the site, about a quarter mile from it, but we don't know if our aircraft can handle the conditions,'' Kaden added. ''We have a Hughes 500 aircraft, but we are trying to enlist the help of a AH-60 Medovac helicopter from the U.S. Army that is similar in style to a Black Hawk helicopter. They may not be able to assist us until Monday morning, but, when they do, we'll be using our men.''
Huemmer said he and his wife, Carole, have been looking at the Internet and following news of the crash, and he said he was hopeful after seeing a photograph of the crash sight in yesterday's Internet edition of the Honolulu Advertiser newspaper.
''When I read Saturday's story about the crash, it said that the helicopter was burned beyond recognition,'' Huemmer said. ''When I saw the article on the Internet from Sunday's paper, the picture of the crash site clearly shows the helicopter's fuselage.
''Seeing the picture in Sunday's Honolulu Advertiser gives us more hope that maybe some miracle may happen,'' Huemmer added. ''The crash site didn't look as bad as they described. We are clinging on to hope.''
Ozaki said yesterday that the island's fire department's efforts are being called a recovery mission.
''We're calling it a recovery mission, but we're always hopeful that there are survivors,'' Ozaki said.
None of the authorities on Kauai would release any of the names of the passengers of the helicopter or the pilot's name.
However, Ozaki said those on the plane were a 36-year-old man and 30-year-old woman, both from the United States, a German couple and the pilot.
A man who answered the phone at Bali Hai Helicopter Tours in Hawaii yesterday declined to comment.
Lawyer Dave Wiersma, Huemmer's colleague at Wickens Herzer Panza Cook & Batista, said that Huemmer ''is a fine young man and an excellent lawyer.''
Dave Herzer, attorney for Wickens Herzer Panza Cook & Batista, provided a statement from the firm.
''Tom is a great young man, and a wonderful lawyer,'' Herzer said. ''As an entire firm, we are hoping and praying by some miracle they are all still alive. Our prayers, love and hope go out to all of the family and friends of those who were on the helicopter.
posted by DP at 2:29 PM
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