MAKAWAO, Maui — A tour helicopter chartered for a New Jersey corporate group made a hard landing yesterday on celebrity chef Bev Gannon's lawn, moments after taking off from her estate.

None of the four men and two women aboard the Sunshine Helicopters EC130 Whisperstar B4 was seriously hurt, but all were taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center as a precaution, police Lt. Jimmy Bell said.

Neighbor Al Schwartz, a noted ceramics artist who lives next to Gannon's property on the 3000 block of Baldwin Avenue, said he had come out of his studio after hearing a loud helicopter noise about 3:45 p.m. Two helicopters landed on Gannon's lawn and sat for about 10 minutes with their rotors spinning while taking on passengers, he said.

"The first one took off and went over the pineapple fields. About three minutes later, the second one started to take off in the same direction and hit the corner of the yard," Schwartz said. "I never saw it get above the trees."

Schwartz said the helicopter appeared to have contacted a jacaranda tree at a height of 10 to 20 feet, then crashed back to the ground. He said winds were gusty at the time.

"The noise was incredible," he said.

There was a crowd of people on Gannon's lawn to watch the aircraft leave, and some were screaming, according to Schwartz. "There were some scared people," he said. "One lady was hysterical. I think her husband was on the helicopter."

A female passenger was taken away from the aircraft on a stretcher but was later seen walking around, he said. No one else seemed hurt.

Gannon could not be contacted for comment, and Sunshine Helicopters officials who were at the scene of the hard landing declined to comment.

Bell said the helicopters were shuttling people from the property to the Kapalua resort. They belonged to a corporate group of approximately 50 people from Princeton, N.J., he said.

Bell did not know why they were at Gannon's property. Schwartz said helicopters have landed there only a few times over the nine years he's lived next door.

Gannon and husband Joe own the Hali'imaile General Store and Joe's Bar & Grill restaurants on Maui. She is one of the founders of the Pacific Regional Cuisine movement and has appeared on "The Today Show" and other national television programs.

A National Transportation Safety Board investigator from Honolulu was expected to arrive on Maui last night to look into the incident, Bell said.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.