Aggressive takeoff caused Hawaii plane crash that killed 11
The National Transportation Safety Board has found that a pilot’s aggressive takeoff led to an aerodynamic stall, the causing the 2019 crash of a skydiving plane in Hawaii that killed all 11 people on board
A pilot's aggressive takeoff led to an aerodynamic stall, causing the 2019 crash of a skydiving plane in Hawaii that killed all 11 people on board, government safety investigators have determined.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said the stall caused a loss of control at an altitude that was too low for the pilot to recover. The crash in Mokuleia, Hawaii, was one of the most deadly in U.S. civil aviation in recent memory.
The board also found that the Beech King Air 65-A-90 that crashed went into a stall and spin in 2016 while in California twisting the left wing. The wing wasn't repaired, leaving the plane in an “unairworthy condition.”
The NTSB found that the damage reduced the margin for an aerodynamic stall and could cause the plane to roll left under certain conditions.
An aerodynamic stall happens when a plane loses lift under its wings due to a high angle of the nose and air speed that's too low.
The agency issued a report on the probable cause of the crash on Tuesday.
The NTSB said Tuesday that while the Federal Aviation Administration inspected the Oahu Parachute Center's planes, the inspections failed to identify the damaged left wing of the plane that crashed.
During an NTSB hearing last month, senior accident investigator David Lawrence said the FAA doesn’t give tour operators and skydiving flights any more oversight than owners of other private planes even though they carry paying passengers. Typically, he said, the FAA just conducts periodic on-airport checks of the planes and the pilot’s license. Findings from the Hawaii crash found that the FAA’s oversight and monitoring of such operations “do not ensure that the operators are properly maintaining their aircraft and safely conducting their operations,” Lawrence said.