HILO, Hawai'i — A husband and wife who were on an Island Hoppers tour flight that crashed and caught fire in 2004 say they are astonished the company is still in business years later.

Pilot Jelica Matic and passengers Dallas and Catherine Radcliff were burned and seriously injured in the crash, which happened on the first tour flight Matic piloted on the Big Island, according to a federal report on the crash.

In describing her ordeal, Catherine Radcliff said the air tour industry in Hawai'i needs stronger regulation.

"It's just not right that people have to still go through that, and I'm thinking of these people's families," she said.

On Sunday, the Hawai'i County Fire Department located another Island Hoppers plane, one that crashed on June 17 during a circle-island flight that originated in Kona. The Island Hoppers Cessna 172 piloted by Katsuhiro Takahashi, 40, was carrying Japanese tourists Nobuhiro and Masako Suzuki, 53 and 56, from Chiba prefecture. There were no survivors.

RECORD DEFENDED

Phil Auldridge, director of operations for Island Hoppers, said he feels sadness and empathy for anyone involved in an air tour accident, but said the air tour industry is probably busier in Hawai'i than anywhere else in the nation, and that "statistically, the accident rate for the Hawai'i air tour industry is significantly lower than the accident rate in similar kinds of operations in the United States."

That doesn't help accident victims or exonerate anyone from responsibility for any accident, he said, "but unfortunately, because there are literally thousands of flights conducted here ... we're dealing with mechanical devices that in spite of all of our best intent do fail sometimes, and we're dealing with human beings who make mistakes from time to time.

"We think we have an enviable safety record, and I think it's a given in spite of all of our best efforts, from time to time, unfortunately, these horrible things happen."

Auldridge said he does not expect to know what caused last week's crash until the National Transportation Safety Board makes a finding. That often takes more than a year.

Counselors will visit the Island Hoppers operation today to help the staff with grief management, and the company expects to resume tour operations tomorrow, Auldridge said.

Catherine Radcliff, 68, suffered burns over 30 percent of her body in the 2004 crash, including burns to her throat that forced her to undergo four surgeries to try to repair the damage. Her husband, Dallas, was burned over 60 percent of his body.

After she was released from a hospital in Honolulu in 2004, Catherine Radcliff said, she was interviewed by a federal investigator, who told her the crash was caused by pilot error.

"She took down all the information as to what happened and what went on, and she told me that Island Hoppers would never fly again, and (the pilot) would never fly again," Radcliff said.

PILOT ERROR BLAMED

The National Transportation Safety Board in 2006 released a report on the Radcliffs' crash that blamed pilot error, and noted that pilot Jelica Matic had been hired by Island Hoppers just 11 days before she flew the Piper Warrior with the Radcliffs aboard into the slope of Mauna Loa.

Matic borrowed a cell phone from the Radcliffs to call for help after the crash, but was unable to give an accurate description of the crash location, according to the National Transportation Safety Board report.

The report also notes that rescuers had a difficult time finding the damaged Piper, in part because the emergency locating transmitter failed to activate.

Auldridge said there was never any question of Island Hoppers closing, and expressed disbelief that a federal investigator would suggest the company would be forced to do so.

The Radcliffs sued Matic, Island Hoppers and its affiliated companies, but Catherine Radcliff said their lawyer told them the tour company carried liability coverage of only $100,000 per passenger, and convinced the couple to settle for a small amount.

"I'm not allowed to say the amount, but it was piddly," Radcliff said. "Honest to God, they might as well not have gave us anything."

During their painful recovery, Radcliff said, the couple had to leave their home in Ohio and move to North Carolina to be closer to their daughters, who help care for them. Radcliff said Island Hoppers did not pay the couple's hospital bills.

Earlier this year, on April 16, another Island Hoppers flight carrying six tourists made an emergency landing on a highway about a mile from Kalapana. No one was injured in that incident.

WHISTLEBLOWER SUIT

Island Hoppers was sued last week by a former employee who alleges he was fired in January for blowing the whistle on faulty maintenance practices at the company.

Michael Tennant alleged in the suit he was hired by Island Hoppers in November as a mechanic and pilot, but Auldridge said Tennant was fired because "almost from the beginning he was uncooperative and created a hostile environment."

Now Tennant is presenting himself as a whistleblower and "on top of everything else, it is just so upsetting," Auldridge said. "I can assure you that the owner of the company, and all of us, we have no concerns that this case will ever have any merits or will ever come to court, it's just so preposterous."

Tennant issued a statement Friday saying that "it is with great sadness that I learned of the incident involving Mr. Takahashi. I continue to hope that he and his passengers will be found. My respect for him as an individual and a pilot is immeasurable."