What happened
On a scheduled nighttime passenger flight from Maui to Molokai, Hawaii, an Aloha Islandair flight involving a De Havilland DHC-6, registration N707PV, struck hilly terrain near Halawa Bay. The accident occurred at an altitude of approximately 500 feet after the aircraft had transitioned from flying over water to crossing the coastline. During the approach, the aircraft was traveling on a heading that ran parallel to the northern shore of the island.
Findings
Investigations revealed that the pilot committed a navigational error, operating under the mistaken impression that the flight path was successfully bypassing the northern part of Molokai. At the time of the impact, low cloud cover was masking the tops of the mountains in the vicinity. The crash resulted in 20 fatalities and no survivors.
Official conclusions determined that the accident was a controlled flight into terrain. This was driven by the pilot's choice to maintain visual flight rules while flying at night into instrument meteorological conditions, which prevented the crew from seeing the rising landscape. Additional contributing factors included poor management oversight regarding training and operations at Aloha Islandair, alongside inadequate FAA supervision during the airline's period of significant growth.