Kaena Point ultralight crash victims identified
Nov. 8—The Honolulu Medical Examiner's Office on Monday identified the victims of Saturday morning's fatal crash of a powered hang glider as 58-year-old Marc Hill of Waialua and 17-year-old AJ Lazear of Flower Mound, Texas.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner's Office on Monday identified the victims of Saturday morning's fatal crash of a powered hang glider as 58-year-old Marc Hill of Waialua and 17-year-old AJ Lazear of Flower Mound, Texas.
Hill was an instructor with Paradise Air Hawaii Inc., doing business as Paradise Hang Gliding. Lazear was the passenger in the motorized, three-wheeled glider when the crash occurred at Kaena Point State Park.
The craft was destroyed and both pilot and passenger were pronounced dead at the scene.
The Federal Aviation Administration identified the two-seater aircraft as a single-engine Edge XT-912-L ultralight trike.
According to FAA records, the weight-shift-control light sport aircraft made by Airborne Windsports was built in 2016.
Originally from Liverpool, England, Hill is a former windsurfing, kitesurfing and basic flight instructor who has lived all around the world, according to bio information on the Paradise Air Hang Gliders website.
The former Hawaii paragliding champion lived in the state in the late 1980s and'90s and, after sailing around the world and then living in Colorado, moved back to Oahu in 2020, where he became an FAA-certified flight instructor and took a job with Paradise, the website said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is expected to release a preliminary report in two to three weeks. The investigation is expected to be completed in 12 to 24 months.
