Accident Overview
On June 21, 2019, about 1822 Hawaii-Aleutian standard time, a Beech King Air 65-A90, registration N256TA, impacted terrain after takeoff from Dillingham Airfield (HDH) in Mokuleia, Hawaii. The pilot and 10 passengers sustained fatal injuries, and the airplane was destroyed.
Aircraft and Operator
The airplane was owned by N80896 LLC and operated by Oahu Parachute Center (OPC) LLC under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a local parachute jump (skydiving) flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time.
Flight Details
OPC had scheduled five parachute jump flights that day; the third through fifth were referred to as “sunset” flights. The accident occurred during the fourth flight. The pilot served as pilot-in-command for all OPC flights that day. Initially, the pilot and 8 of the 10 passengers boarded: three OPC tandem instructors, three passenger parachutists, and two OPC parachutists acting as camera operators. As the pilot began taxiing, two additional solo parachutists, who had been on the previous flight, ran to the airplane and were loaded at the last minute. The pilot taxied to runway 8 about 1820 and departed about 1822.
Witness Accounts and Video Evidence
Multiple witnesses reported that after liftoff, the airplane banked left, rolled inverted, and descended to the ground. One witness stated the airplane appeared intact with no unusual noises or smoke before impact. A security camera video showed the airplane inverted in a 45° nose-down attitude at impact. The airplane struck a grass and dirt area about 630 ft northeast of the departure end of the runway, and a postcrash fire followed.
Additional Information
The aircraft was not equipped with, and was not required to have, a cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder. The accident flight was not detected by radar at the FAA’s Hawaii Control Facility, and no audio communications between the accident airplane and ATC were found.
Probable Cause
The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of this accident was the pilot’s aggressive takeoff maneuver, which resulted in an accelerated stall and subsequent loss of control at an altitude too low for recovery. Contributing factors included: 1) operation near the aft center of gravity limit and the pilot’s lack of training and experience with the airplane’s handling in that regime; 2) OPC and its contract mechanic failing to maintain the airplane in an airworthy condition and to detect and repair a twisted left wing, which reduced stall margin; and 3) the FAA’s insufficient regulatory framework for overseeing parachute jump operations. Additionally, the FAA’s lack of awareness that the pilot’s flight instructor was providing substandard training contributed to the pilot’s training deficiencies.