UPDATE: Identity of Pilot Confirmed in Fatal Molokai Tour Crash

By Wendy Osher

Blue Hawaiian helicopter, file photo by Wendy Osher. The photo above is not from the crash site.

(Update:  4:45 p.m. 11/11/11)

The remains of five victims killed in a helicopter crash on Molokai on Thursday, were recovered and will be transported to the island of Maui.

At about 2:40 p.m. today (November 11, 2011), the remains of all five victims were recovered by a team consisting of Molokai Patrol Officers, Wailuku Detectives, and Maui Fire Department personnel– according to the Maui Police Department’s Molokai Command.

Detectives are currently in the process of notifying next of kin, and are planning to schedule autopsies.

Police are awaiting the arrival of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Maui Police Lt. Wayne Ibarra said the NTSB investigators are expected to arrive on Saturday, November 12, 2011.

(Posted: 11:26 a.m. 11/11/11)

County officials today confirmed the identity of the pilot involved in a fatal helicopter crash on Molokai as Nathan Cline, 30, of Kihei.

The other four passengers included a newly wed couple from Pennsylvania, and two people from Ontario, Canada, said County Communications Director Rod Antone.

The crash was reported at around 12:14 p.m. on Thursday, November 10, 2011, on a mountain ridge just above Kilohana Elementary School.

The helicopter was scheduled to conduct a one-hour aerial tour of the West Maui area and the island of Molokai, according to Maui Police Lt. Wayne Ibarra.

The bodies of all five people aboard were recovered, however, the names of the visiting passengers are pending release.

A joint investigation is ongoing by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.