Texarkana native one of few pilots allowed to fly near Hawaii volcano

Texarkana native Ronald Trumble poses with his plane during a photoshoot.
Texarkana native Ronald Trumble poses with his plane during a photoshoot.

Texarkana native Ronald Wayne Trumble is witnessing the recent volcanic eruptions in Hawaii from a unique perspective.

Trumble is a private pilot, and since the eruption, he has been flying local reporters and photographers over the devastated area in his Cessna.

"I'm only one of a handful of pilots qualified to fly in this area," he said. "It can be very challenging flying in this area with the weather, low clouds and volcanic ash."

Trumble has lived in Hawaii for 20 years but was born and raised in Texarkana.

Kilauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, began extruding red-hot lava and sulfuric acid fumes through newly opened fissures on the ground along its eastern flank on May 3, marking the latest phase of an eruption cycle that has continued nearly nonstop for 35 years.

The eruption was accompanied by a strong earthquake on May 4, and nearly 2,000 residents were evacuated from the rural Leilani Estates subdivision and nearby areas. By May 31, the eruption had destroyed about 75 houses in the lower Puna area.

The occurrence of new lava-spewing vents, now numbering at least 22, have been accompanied by flurries of earthquakes and periodic eruptions of ash, volcanic rock and toxic gases from the volcano's summit crater.

"I have never witnessed anything quite like this in my entire life," Trumble said. "The most devastating volcanic eruption occurred on May 3 around 10:30 a.m. I was at Hilo International Airport working on my airplane when I noticed a plume of smoke in the distance, about 35 miles away. I knew immediately something was terribly wrong."

Trumble said he got in his airplane and flew to the Pu'u O'o vent, a crater formed in 1983.

"I was the very first pilot there after the crater wall imploded. I could not see the bottom, just a little smoke was left. Incidentally, a group of us walked up to the edge of this crater only a month ago to watch the bubbling pools less than 200 feet from the rim. Now, it's empty. Where did it go? Leilani Estates."

The next day, there were two earthquakes, the largest a 6.9 when a shelf shifted under Kilauea.

Trumble was at the airport, underneath his plane, when that quake occurred.

"First I saw the wings swaying back and forth, next thing I knew I was on the ground scooting along the pavement, watching the fence go by, swaying back and forth like a leaf on a tree. Very frightening," he said. "When I got home that afternoon pictures were sideways, china was on the floor, windows were out of their casing. Since then, we've had literally thousands of small earthquakes, some you can feel, some you cannot."

More than 20 fissures have opened. Two of these fissures spurt molten lava, magma, three- to four-hundred feet into the air with lava bombs. Temperatures are as high as 2200 degrees Fahrenheit, which disintegrates anything in its path.

"It moves like a river 10 feet an hour, a swath 300 yards wide, a black fiery wall," Trumble said.

Hundred of homes have been lost.

"This is a beautiful area of the big island where people have lived for generations. People who have put all of their life savings into their dream home and were literally living the dream," he said.

Trumble said many people knew they were living on top of a volcano but took the chance that it would not erupt.

He said he and his wife would drive down to this area weekly just to enjoy the scenery, which included beaches and a coral reef that had more natural habitat than the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

"We have lost two recreational areas where people launched boats, surfed and enjoyed Sundays with their families," he said.

Trumble said tension has increased as a resiult of the mandatory evacuation and tempers have risen to the point that a man shot at another person to keep him away from his property.

"Hundreds and hundreds of people have been displaced and have no place to go but to live in their cars, tents and shelters. The lava is not the only problem to deal with. There is volcanic vog (smog containing volcanic dust and gases).

The collateral damage and trickle-down effects of decreased tourism, 60 percent, is also devastating to the restaurants, hotels and other vendors who rely on tourism for their livelihood, Trumble said.

"We, in Hilo, who live 25 miles away do not feel anything except for the occasional tremor and poor air quality if the trade winds don't blow. We went to Kona last weekend and had to eat at an Outback to find air-conditioning relief. Kona is on the other side of the island but the winds carry the vog over there away from HILO, usually."

Trumble credits his taste for adventure to his late father's influence. Jonas W. Trumble Sr. served as an Army paratrooper during World War II.

Trumble took his first flight lessons at Texarkana Regional Airport but then had to set his dream aside for several decades until he was in his 50s.

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