A skydiving plane crashed after take off from a small airport on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, killing all 11 people on board, officials said Saturday.

The Hawaii Department of Transportation tweeted that officials "confirmed there were 11 people on board the plane that went down soon after takeoff from Dillingham Airfield with no survivors."

Earlier, authorities had said that nine people were onboard the twin-engine Beechcraft King Air plane when it crashed at about 6:30 p.m. local time (04:30 UTC) on Friday.

The plane was manufactured in 1967 and operated by Oahu Parachute Center skydiving company.

Those onboard were believed to have been both employees and customers. The company offers tandem skydives in which the customer is attached to the employee.

On its website, the company encourages customers to "experience the beauty Hawaii" from over 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) at 120 mph (193 kph).

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> The Latest: 9 killed when plane used in sky dives crashes

HONOLULU (AP) — The Latest on a fatal plane crash in Hawaii (all times local):

Honolulu's fire chief says the plane that crashed Friday night, killing nine people on board was an aircraft used in a sky dive operation.

Fire chief Manuel Neves says there were no survivors in the crash near Dillingham Airfield on Oahu's North Shore. The plane was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived.

He says some family members stayed at the airport while the flight took off. Names of the victims have not been released.

Neves said many details are still not known about the flight. But he says witnesses have said the plane was inbound to the airport when the crash occurred but that has not been confirmed.

Authorities in Hawaii are investigating after nine people were killed in a small plane crash.

The crash occurred Friday evening on the North Shore of Oahu. Officials say there were no survivors in the crash at Dillingham Airfield.

Honolulu Police Chief Manuel Neves said the plane was fully engulfed in flames when crews arrived. The crash was far from the airfield's runway, near perimeter fencing.

Other details of the crash weren't immediately known.

Names of the victims have not been released. </s> Nine people have been killed after a light aircraft crashed in Hawaii

There appeared to be no survivors after the twin-engine King Air plane went down near Dillingham Airfield, the Hawaii Department of Transportation said.

They tweeted: “With extreme sadness HDOT reports there were 9 souls on board the King Air twin engine plane that went down near Dillingham Airfield with no apparent survivors.”

Pictures show a plume of smoke rising following the horror crash.

An official told Hawaii News Now: “Right now, the initial report is that there were nine souls on board. There's no survivors."

The Honolulu Fire Department said they received reports of a plane crash at about 6.30pm yesterday.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.

Officials earlier reported that six people were on board the plane. </s> This post was originally published on this site

U.S. NEWS 9 killed as sky diving plane crashes in Hawaii https://linewsradio.com/9-killed-as-sky-diving-plane-crashes-in-hawaii/ http://abcnewsradioonline.com/national-news/

iStock(OAHU, Hawaii) — Nine people were killed when a sky diving plane crashed on the island of Oahu Friday, the deadliest civilian plane accident in the U.S. since 2015.

The twin-engine King Air plane crashed Friday at about 6:30 p.m. local time and killed everyone on board, according to the Hawaii Department of Transportation.

“With extreme sadness HDOT reports there were 9 souls on board the King Air twin engine plane that went down near Dillingham Airfield with no apparent survivors,” the DOT tweeted.

“There’s nothing left of the plane,” Honolulu Fire Chief Manuel P. Neves told reporters at the airport.

Dillingham Airfield is located on the northwest coast of Oahu, the opposite side from the state’s capital of Honolulu. The airfield is used for both military and civilian aircraft.

“I am closely following the tragic developments out of Dillingham Airfield this evening,” Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said in a tweet. “At this time our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the victims.”

“There was a fire close to the fence line. We extinguished the fire, so luckily because it was accessible we could get to the fire right away,” Neves said. “We’re collecting information; it was a sky-dive aircraft.”

“We have witnesses that say it was inbound so we’re not sure right now [whether it left the airfield], we’re gathering information,” he added.

There were family members of those on the plane who were waiting at the airfield, Neves said.

“It is very difficult,” he said. “In my 40 years as a firefighter here in Hawaii, this is the most tragic aircraft incident that we’ve had. We’ve had some helicopters with the military, but this is a civilian plane that went down with that many people on board.”

One man who was hiking in the area of the airfield said he saw fire trucks, police and helicopters rush to the scene. When he got closer to the scene, he spoke to a couple who saw the plane take off.

“I talked to a couple on my way from the other side [of the airport]; they said they saw the plane, it looks like it was taking off and it looked a little wobbly and that’s the last they could see of it,” eyewitness Jonathan Keating said.

The crash is the deadliest in the U.S. for a civilian plane since nine people were killed in Akron, Ohio, in November 2015. There have been two more recent military plane crashes with at least as many casualties: a C-130 crash in Georgia in May 2018 that killed nine people and a C-130 crash in Mississippi in July 2017 that killed 16.

Sixteen people were also killed in a hot air balloon accident in Texas in July 2016. </s> A small, twin-engine plane used for skydiving crashed in the Hawaiian island of Oahu on Friday, killing all 11 people aboard, authorities said. The Federal Aviation Administration initially believed there were nine people on board but have since revised that number. Names and ages of the victims weren’t immediately released.

The King Air plane burst into flames upon hitting the ground near the Dillingham Airfield around 6:30 p.m. local time. The airfield will remain closed until further notice, officials said.

All nine passengers were pronounced dead at the scene, officials said. There were six employees and three customers on the flight, said Tim Sakahara of Hawaii’s Department of Transportation, citing preliminary information. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.

Honolulu Fire Chief Manuel Neves said family members of those onboard were nearby and likely witnessed the plane go down. “It is very difficult. In my 40 years as a firefighter here in Hawaii, this is the most tragic aircraft incident we’ve had,” Neves said in a news conference.

Witnesses said the plane appeared to have problems during takeoff, noticing that it was unsteady on the runway. “We saw big smoke. We saw a big fire and firemen trying to put it out — crazy,” witness Justin Kepa told CBS affiliate KGMB.

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said he was closely monitoring developments of the crash. “At this time our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the victims,” Caldwell tweeted.

The crash on Friday is considered one of the deadliest in Hawaii’s modern history. In 1981, 11 people were killed when a twin-engine plane crashed into Pearl Harbor. And in 1992, nine people died when a tour aircraft crashed into a mountainous area at Haleakala, KGMB reported, citing FAA records. </s> A skydiving plane crashed and burst into flames just after takeoff from a small seaside airfield on the island of Oahu, killing 11 people, officials said Saturday.

Authorities initially reported that nine people died in the crash Friday evening and that three of them were customers of a skydiving company and six were employees.

But the Hawaii Department of Transportation tweeted Saturday that officials later "confirmed there were 11 people on board the plane" and no survivors. The twin-engine Beechcraft King Air plane took off from Dillingham Airfield on the north shore of the island.

The plane was operated by the Oahu Parachute Center skydiving company and the ratio of employees to customers suggested that tandem jumps may have been planned in which the customers would have jumped while attached to experienced skydivers, Tim Sakahara, a spokesman for the Hawaii Department of Transportation, told reporters.

Neves described the site of the crash near the airport's perimeter as being "quite a ways away from the runway" and said that some family members of those aboard were at the airport when the plane went down at about 6:30 p.m.

"In my 40 years as a firefighter here in Hawaii, this is the most tragic aircraft incident that we've had," Neves said.

The plane was engulfed in flames when firefighters made it to the crash site about an hour drive from Honolulu, Neves said. The victims were not identified.

Two Federal Aviation Administration inspectors went to the crash site Friday and investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board that will investigate the crash were expected to arrive Saturday evening, said safety board spokesman Eric Weiss.

The plane with two turboprop engines was manufactured in 1967, FAA records said.

The phone for Oahu Parachute Center went unanswered Saturday.

On its web site, the company says the jumps that it offers on Hawaii are "a magical experience. There really is no better place in the world to skydive." Its tandem jumps are listed for prices ranging from $170 to $250.

Videos from the company's Facebook page show jumps from the same Beechcraft King Air that crashed, with customers strapped to employees and dropping from a side door of the aircraft from 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) or higher, with the Pacific Ocean and the Oahu's green mountains far below.

Dillingham Airfield is used mostly for skydiving and glider flights. Hawaii shares the airfield with the Army, which uses it for helicopter night-vision training.

Selsky reported from Bend, Oregon. Associated Press writer Caleb Jones in Honolulu and David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report. </s> There were no survivors in the crash of the King Air plane near a small airport, Hawaii Department of Transportation spokesman Tim Sakahara said.

HONOLULU — A skydiving plane crashed and burst into flames just after takeoff from a small seaside airfield on the island of Oahu, killing 11 people, officials said Saturday.

Authorities initially reported that nine people died in the crash Friday evening and that three of them were customers of a skydiving company and six were employees.

But the Hawaii Department of Transportation tweeted Saturday that officials later “confirmed there were 11 people on board the plane” and no survivors. The twin-engine Beechcraft King Air plane took off from Dillingham Airfield on the north shore of the island.

The plane turned around after it took off and appeared to be heading back to the airfield when it skimmed over some trees and crashed near the airfield’s perimeter fence, witness Steven Tickemeyer told KHON television news.

“We showed up a couple minutes after, and the whole plane was engulfed in flames,” he said.

The plane was operated by the Oahu Parachute Center skydiving company and the ratio of employees to customers aboard suggested that tandem jumps may have been planned in which the customers would have jumped while attached to experienced skydivers, Tim Sakahara, a spokesman for the Hawaii Department of Transportation, told reporters.

The site of the crash was “quite a ways away from the runway” and some family members of those aboard were at the airport when the plane went down at about 6:30 p.m., said Honolulu Police Chief Manuel Neves.

“In my 40 years as a firefighter here in Hawaii, this is the most tragic aircraft incident that we’ve had,” Neves said.

The plane was engulfed in flames when firefighters made it to the crash site about an hour drive from Honolulu, Neves said. The victims were not identified.

Two Federal Aviation Administration inspectors went to the crash site Friday and investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board that will investigate the crash were expected to arrive Saturday evening, said safety board spokesman Eric Weiss.

The plane with two turboprop engines was manufactured in 1967, FAA records said.

The phone for Oahu Parachute Center went unanswered Saturday.

On its web site, the company says the jumps that it offers on Hawaii are “a magical experience. There really is no better place in the world to skydive.” Its tandem jumps are listed for prices ranging from $170 to $250.

Videos from the company’s Facebook page show jumps from the same Beechcraft King Air that crashed, with customers strapped to employees and dropping from a side door of the aircraft from 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) or higher, with the Pacific Ocean and the Oahu’s green mountains far below.

Dillingham Airfield is used mostly for skydiving and glider flights. Hawaii shares the airfield with the Army, which uses it for helicopter night-vision training. </s> Nine people died in a fiery crash of a small airplane used in a sky dive operation, officials in Hawaii said.

There were no survivors after the twin engine King Air plane crashed Friday night near Dillingham Airfield, on Oahu’s North Shore, Hawaii Department of Transportation spokesman Tim Sakahara said.

“Upon arrival, we saw the plane fully engulfed in fire,” Honolulu Fire Chief Manuel Neves told reporters on the scene. “The first crews on scene extinguished the fire.”

Neves said the crashed occurred near the perimeter fencing of the small airport. “They’re quite a ways away from the runway,” he said.

The plane was used in a sky dive operation, and Neves said some family members of those on board waited at the airport for the plane to return.

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The debris field was relatively small, about 50 feet (15 meters) by 50 feet (15 meters), he said.

“In my 40 years as a firefighter here in Hawaii, this is the most tragic aircraft incident what we’ve had,” he told reporters at the scene, about an hour’s drive north of Honolulu.

Crews with Honolulu Emergency Services said it assisted with death pronouncements of the nine after receiving the call at 6:26 p.m. local time, agency spokeswoman Shayne Enright said.

READ MORE: 2 dead after small plane crashes near Whitehorse International Airport

Names, ages and genders of the deceased have not been released.

Neves said many details are still not known about the flight. But he says witnesses have said the plane was inbound to the airport when the crash occurred but that has not been confirmed.

Officials initially reported that six people had been on board. </s> Audrey McAvoy And Andrew Selsky, The Associated Press 

 



HONOLULU - - A skydiving plane crashed and burst into flames just outside a small seaside airport on the island of Oahu, killing six employees of the company that operated the flight and three of its customers, officials said.

Preliminary information gathered by the Federal Aviation Administration indicated that the Friday evening crash of the twin-engine Beechcraft King Air plane happened as it took off from Dillingham Airfield on the north shore of the island, FAA spokesman Greg Martin said in a statement Saturday.

Some witnesses reported that the plane crashed as it was inbound to the airport, said Honolulu Fire Chief Manuel Neves, cautioning that those reports had not been confirmed.

The plane was operated by the Oahu Parachute Center skydiving company and the ratio of employees to customers suggested that tandem jumps may have been planned in which the customers would have jumped while attached to experienced skydivers, Tim Sakahara, a spokesman for the Hawaii Department of Transportation, told reporters.

Neves described the site of the crash near the airport's perimeter as being “quite a ways away from the runway” and said that some family members of those aboard were at the airport when the plane went down at about 6:30 p.m.

“In my 40 years as a firefighter here in Hawaii, this is the most tragic aircraft incident that we've had,” Neves said.

The plane was engulfed in flames when firefighters made it to the crash site about an hour drive from Honolulu, Neves said. The victims were not identified.

Two FAA inspectors went to the crash site Friday and investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board that will investigate the crash were expected to arrive Saturday evening, said safety board spokesman Eric Weiss.

The plane with two turboprop engines was manufactured in 1967, FAA records said.

The phone for Oahu Parachute Center went unanswered Saturday.

On its website, the company says the jumps that it offers on Hawaii are “a magical experience. There really is no better place in the world to skydive.” Its tandem jumps are listed for prices ranging from $170 to $250.

Videos from the company's Facebook page show jumps from the same Beechcraft King Air that crashed, with customers strapped to employees and dropping from a side door of the aircraft from 10,000 feet (3,000 metres) or higher, with the Pacific Ocean and the Oahu's green mountains far below.

Selsky reported from Bend, Oregon. Associated Press writer Caleb Jones in Honolulu and David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.
A Beechcraft King Air sky diving operation plane crashes near Dillingham Airfield on Oahu, Hawaii, killing all eleven people onboard.