The Honolulu medical examiner has released the identities of seven of the 11 victims in Friday night's skydiving airplane crash at Dillingham Airfield.
They are:
- Joshua Drablos, 27, U.S. military member stationed in Hawai‘i, Virginia resident
- Nikolas Glebov, 28, St. Paul, Minnesota
- Daniel Herndon, 35, Hawai‘i resident
- Michael Martin, 32, Hawai‘i resident
- Jordan Tehero, 23, Hawai‘i resident
- Ashley Weikel, 26, Colorado Springs, Colorado
- Bryan Weikel, 27, Colorado Springs, Colorado
The names of the remaining four victims will be released after confirmation by Medical Examiner Christopher Happy's office, a city spokesman said. Ten men and one woman died in the crash.
Meanwhile, the investigation into the crash headed by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration highlighted a disagreement between the two agencies over regulation of skydiving operations.
The Federal Aviation Administration says it has implemented a number of changes to address National Transportation Safety Board recommendations regarding the safety of skydiving flights.
The FAA said Monday it requires safety inspectors to increase their monitoring of parachute operations. It says it revised safety guidance for parachute operators and increased safety outreach to the parachuting community.
The FAA issued its statement after NTSB member Jennifer Homendy told a news conference that her agency recommended more than a decade ago that the FAA tighten rules on skydiving but that it hadn't acted on those recommendations.
Homendy says those rules involved pilot training, aircraft maintenance and inspection, and oversight.
