On June 21, 2019, at 1822 Hawaii-Aleutian standard time, a Beech 65-A90, N256TA, collided with terrain after takeoff from Dillingham Airfield (HDH), Mokuleia, Hawaii. The commercial pilot and ten passengers sustained fatal injuries, and the airplane was destroyed. The airplane was owned by N80896 LLC, and was being operated by Oahu Parachute Center (OPC) under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a local sky-diving flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed.
Category: Fatal
The airplane was at 1,250 ft above ground level carrying a load of skydivers. According to a
skydiving instructor onboard the airplane, the jumpmaster leaned forward to assist a skydiver
in exiting the airplane when the jumpmaster’s reserve parachute inadvertently deployed and
entered the airplane’s slipstream. The jumpmaster attempted to pull the parachute back into
the airplane but was pulled into the door frame and dragged out of the airplane. The
jumpmaster, who appeared to be unconscious, descended to the ground beneath his streaming
(unopened) reserve parachute without deploying his main parachute. The pilot maintained
control of the airplane and landed safely. Examination of the jumpmaster’s reserve parachute
revealed that it was damaged by impact with the door frame, thus it did not deploy properly. It
is likely that the jumpmaster failed to guard his reserve parachute ripcord, which was exposed
on the front of his parachute, and the ripcord snagged on something as he attempted to assist
the exiting skydiver, which caused the reserve parachute to deploy prematurely.
The commercial pilot was returning the airplane to the departure airport for landing after a skydiving
flight. Two witnesses reported observing the pilot fly the airplane over the runway; one witness said it
was about 50 ft above ground level (agl), and the other witness said it was about 100 ft agl. One of the
witnesses added that, when the airplane reached the end of the runway, it pitched up about 45 degrees,
gained about 200 ft of altitude, and then entered a turn with a 45-bank angle. The witness added that,
after the airplane had turned about 90 degrees to a westerly heading, its nose dropped, and the airplane
“immediately dove.” The airplane subsequently entered a left spin and rotated about 180 degrees before
impacting trees and then the ground. A second witness noted that the engine sounded like it was at “full
throttle” during the descent as if the pilot was attempting to recover from the dive.
The skydiving airplane was on a ramp with its engines operating while the pilot waited for passengers to
board. The pilot asked an employee of the skydiving operator if he could order something to eat for
lunch. The employee responded that she had time to come see the pilot at the airplane because she was
expecting a small delay before the next flight. The pilot thought the delay was not long enough to justify
shutting down the engines. The pilot observed the employee exit the manifest office and run toward the
airplane. The skydiving operator typically flew single-engine airplanes with the propeller located in
front of the cockpit; however, the accident airplane was a twin-engine airplane with its propellers
located under each wing. The operator’s employee subsequently walked into the operating propeller
under the airplane’s left wing, sustaining fatal injuries.
Three Skydive to Safety as Plane Crash Kills Eight in Finland
Vesa Moilanen / LEHTIKUVA via Reuters
Three people jumped to safety from a plummeting aircraft before a fiery crash which killed eight skydivers, according to officials in Finland.
The survivors suffered only minor injuries after parachuting from the American-made Comp Air 8 kit light aircraft before it hit the ground and burst into flames, The Helsinki Times reported Monday. The pilot was among those who escaped.
The incident happened Sunday above the Jamijarvi airfield, some 130 miles from Helsinki.
Investigators have recovered the helmet camera from one of the parachutists involved although it is not clear whether it will help them with their investigation, The Helsinki Times reported.
Detective Superintendent Petri Kangas said an eyewitness had reported seeing a large piece of the aircraft fall off before it crashed.
“[The witness] was unable to tell whether it was a wing or another part,” Kangas told the newspaper.
– Alexander Smith
At least 10 civilian parachutists were killed alongside a pilot today when their light plane crashed into a field in Belgium. Four of those on board the stricken Pilatus PC-6 Porter had been seen desperately trying to get out after the aircraft caught fire and a wing dropped off. But they were unable to open their chutes before the plane crashed into the ground near the town of Marchovelette, in the southern Namur region.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2467472/Belgium-plane-crash-kills-10-parachutists.html#ixzz2iVbcMnCN
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On August 16, 2013, about 1730 central daylight time, a Cessna 206, N2070K, sustained minor damage inflight near Brooklyn, Iowa. The commercial pilot was not injured; however, the passenger was fatally injured.
On August 11, 2012, about 1124 central daylight time, a Hawker Beechcraft Corporation G18S airplane, N697Q, was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain in a residential neighborhood in Taylorville, Illinois.
Before the flight, the pilot did not obtain a weather briefing and departed without approval from company personnel. The airplane departed the airport about 0230 and climbed to 14,500 feet mean sea level. The pilot obtained visual flight rules (VFR) flight following services from air traffic control (ATC) personnel during the flight. While the airplane was en route, ATC personnel advised the pilot that an area of moderate precipitation was located about 15 miles ahead along the airplane’s flight path.
A Let L-410 skydiving plane was damaged beyond repair in an accident at Borodyanka, Ukraine. Five people were killed. Fifteen occupants survived.
The airplane, carrying 18 skydivers and two crew members, crashed into a field.
The balloon pilot conducted multiple sport parachute flights throughout the day without obtaining a weather briefing. A SIGMET for severe thunderstorms, hail, and cloud tops to 45,000 feet was in effect for the area surrounding the takeoff and accident sites. Shortly after the balloon lifted off on the accident flight, the ground crew was advised of a severe storm warning for the area and observed the storm on radar via their cellular telephones.
The airplane had not been flown for about 5 months and the purpose of the accident flight was a maintenance test flight after both engines had been replaced with higher horsepower models. Witnesses observed the airplane depart and complete two uneventful touch-and-go landings. The airplane was then observed to be struggling to gain altitude and airspeed while maneuvering in the traffic pattern.
The flight departed to the east with four skydivers for a local jump. One witness stated that, immediately following the takeoff, about 200 feet above ground level, a “percussive” pop from the engine was heard. Two witnesses stated that the right wing dropped, and the airplane impacted the ground.
The airplane was departing for a skydiving flight. During rotation, the jump door opened, which was located on the right side of the airplane. The pilot said that he was not concerned with the door, which would not have critically impacted the airplane’s performance; however, an experienced parachutist attempted to secure the door to the point where he was partially outside of the airplane.
A Portuguese citizent, pretending to be a photographer, hijacked the aircraft.
During a skydiving flight at approximately 14,000 feet, an instructor positioned himself at the door opening with his jump student nearby. The student inadvertently pulled the instructor’s reserve parachute D-ring, deploying the chute and pulling the instructor out of the airplane
The CASA was on a paradropping flight when all 16 para’s were forced to jump off at an altitude of about 3000m. The CASA returned to Agen airfield, but control was lost and the aircraft crashed some 500m short of runway 11.
The non-instrument rated private pilot planned to attend a skydiving event near the destination airport that began the next day. Prior to departure, the pilot was aware of the low clouds affecting the destination airport. The pilot told an acquaintance at the destination airport that he needed to make the flight that night because of deteriorating weather conditions that were expected on the next day.
The commercial pilot reported that he was en route to a parachutist jump zone on the first of two planned jumps. Prior to the first jump, before he had slowed the airplane, or illuminated the green jump light, indicating that the parachutists had permission to jump, two of the parachutists prematurely jumped.
Surviving skydivers said that as the airplane was climbing to the jump altitude of 10,500 feet agl, the stall warning horn sounded intermittently several times. They paid no particular attention to it because they had heard it on previous flights. When the airplane reached the jump altitude, the pilot signaled for one of the parachutists to open the door. When she did, she told the pilot that the airplane had overshot the drop zone by approximately 1 mile.
The pilot of ZK-KAY, a Pacific Aerospace PAC 750XL, was flying under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) on a cross-country flight, tracking south-east, close to Blithfield Reservoir. The pilot and passenger of Luscombe 8E Silvaire Deluxe G-AKUI were on a local flight from their base near the reservoir. G-AKUI entered a turn to the right shortly prior to the collision, possibly to avoid a third aircraft which later radar analysis showed was near.
The pilot was returning a group of skydivers to their home base after a weekend of skydiving. He flew several jump flights, and then stopped early in the afternoon to prepare the airplane for the flight home. The flight was planned into an area of clouds, turbulence, and icing, which the pilot had researched. He delayed the departure until he decided that he could complete the planned flight under visual flight rules (VFR).
After preflighting the airplane, adding fuel and checking the oil, the pilot radioed that he was taxiing to runway 32. Witnesses subsequently observed the airplane takeoff on runway 32, make a 180-degree turn toward the south, and then fly downwind and parallel to the runway at an altitude of between 300 and 500 feet above ground level. At approximately the end of the runway the airplane was observed making a left turn onto base leg for runway 32, followed by a steep turn to final before nosing into the ground and bursting into flames.