Health director who approved Obama birth certificate dies in plane crash

The director of Hawaii's Department of Health Loretta Fuddy was killed Wednesday in a plane crash. The eight other passengers onboard survived.

By Henry Austin and Christopher Nelson, NBC News
The health director who approved the release of President Obama’s birth certificate has died in a plane crash, Hawaiian officials said Thursday.

Loretta Fuddy died after the Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft she was travelling on went down shortly after leaving Kalaupapa Airport at around 3:15 p.m. local time (10:15 a.m. ET) on Wednesday.

The other eight people on board were rescued, Richard Schuman, president of Makani Kai Air, told NBC News early Thursday, adding that that there was no indication as to why the plane had crashed.

Fuddy hit the headlines two years ago when she approved a waiver request allowing Obama to access certified copies of his birth certificate, signed by the delivery doctor, Obama’s mother and the local registrar. His mother, then 18, signed her name (Stanley) Ann Dunham Obama.

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So-called "birthers" opposed to Obama including real estate mogul Donald Trump had long questioned why Obama hadn't ensured the long form was released.

Hawaiian senator J. Kalani English led the tributes to the 65-year-old saying she, “will be dearly missed,” by people on the islands.

“I would like to extend my most heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the Department of Health Director Loretta Fuddy, who tragically passed away in a plane crash late Wednesday afternoon,” he said. “Loretta was a true public servant and friend of the people….. She will be dearly missed.”

Fellow lawmaker Will Espero also paid tribute to Fuddy on his Facebook page.

"It is with great sadness to hear of the passing of Department of Health Director Loretta Fuddy,” he wrote. “She was a respected professional who served our state with pride and distinction. Rest in peace with the angels Director Fuddy.”

After being alerted to the crash, the U.S. Coast Guard scrambled two helicopters and a Hercules plane to the site, which was about a mile from the shore. Rescue swimmers were also deployed and they winched three passengers onto the helicopters.

A radio operator onboard the rescue plane posted this picture of the rescue on Instagram.

“Picture is not great, but you can see two smoke signals in water where an airplane crash was,” Joseph Ferguson wrote.

He told NBC News that usually they would drop rescue gear into the water for the survivors but because the helicopters had arrived quickly so that was not required.

“We acted as the on scene commander,” Ferguson, an avionics electrical technician, third class, said. “So we control all the different assets flying around there and made sure no one flew into that air space.”

Maui Fire Rescue were involved in bringing others to safety.

The flight was due to travel from Molokai to Oahu. The pilot was among the survivors.

Schuman said the survivors were treated for non-life threatening injuries.

“They were admitted to hospital and now some of them have gone home or to hotels,” he said. “They’re all being taken care of.”

Schuman gave credit to the pilot, who had over 30 years of experience and had been working with the airline for around two years.

"He did what he was trained to do and the rest of it’s in God’s hands,” he said.

A spokesman from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) told NBC News they were sending, "at least one investigator to the scene."

NTSB investigating Hawaii crash of Cessna 208 into ocean shortly after takeoff from Kalaupapa Airport.

 

Now isn't that convenient

 

Video of the crash from inside the plane, makes you wonder how she died.

 

A textbook water landing. Looked relatively smooth on the video. No reason for all not to make it out. And the pilot had to exit from the front of the plane to the back. So if she was in a seat still strapped in he would have had to go past her to get out. Strange. Says the pilot had 30 yrs experience, but with the company for two. Wonder if his other 28 years were with Air America?
Wonder what knowledge she may have been privy to? The long form "certificate of live birth", not an official birth certificate, that supposedly closed the door on the birther conspiracy was such a bad forgery that anyone not willing to look the other way could see it. It listed the hospital as one that didn't exist until years later, it listed his father as "African American" a term that was not in use in the early 60's, among some of the most obvious problems with it. Maybe someone was asking too many questions and she was talking to the wrong people.
BO has a long way to go to match the body count surrounding the Clintons.

 

I just stumbled across this. Wasn't even looking for it.


More recently, Grace Vuoto of the World Tribune reported that among the experts challenging the birth certificate is certified document analyst Reed Hayes, who has served as an expert for Perkins Coie, the law firm that has been defending Obama in eligibility cases.

“We have obtained an affidavit from a certified document analyzer, Reed Hayes, that states the document is a 100 percent forgery, no doubt about it,” Zullo told the World Tribune.

“Mr. Obama’s operatives cannot discredit [Hayes],” the investigator told the news outlet. “Mr. Hayes has been used as the firm’s reliable expert. The very firm the president is using to defend him on the birth certificate case has used Mr. Hayes in their cases.”

The Tribune reported Hayes agreed to take a look at the documentation and called almost immediately.

“There is something wrong with this,” Hayes said.

Hayes produced a 40-page report in which he says “based on my observations and findings, it is clear that the Certificate of Live Birth I examined is not a scan of an original paper birth certificate, but a digitally manufactured document created by utilizing material from various sources.”

“In over 20 years of examining documentation of various types, I have never seen a document that is so seriously questionable in so many respects. In my opinion, the birth certificate is entirely fabricated,” he says in the report.
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Investigator Douglas J. Hagmann of the Northeast Intelligence Network reported this month that in October an affidavit was filed in a court case, under seal, that purportedly identifies the creator of the Obama birth certificate.
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“Even more interesting, Mr. Vogt claims to have identified the ‘signature’ of the perpetrator, or the woman who created the forged document, hidden within the document itself. Her identity, in addition to the identity of other conspirators and their precise methods are contained in a sealed document supplementing the public affidavit.”

Read more at ‘Universe-shattering’ twist in Obama birth probe

Emphasis mine. Wonder who this mystery woman is, or maybe was.

 

Actually, No.. On the Cessna 208 Grand Caravan, the pilot has a door, on his left, and that is his Emergency Exit, in case of a Ditching in Water. It is a two Pilot Aircraft in Commercial Passenger Service, and the CoPilot would be sent to the rear of the plane just before the ditch, to operate and open the Exit and stairs at the rear of the aircraft, on the left side. I have spent many hours flying this type of aircraft, flying over water, here in Alaska. ......

 

I am not familiar with that aircraft. I was going by the video showing the rear door open and the plane nose down in the water. I don't believe it was anything but an accident but after finding the other report of an ongoing investigation that supposedly identifies the "woman" who forged the certificate it makes you go, hmmm.