What happened
A flight traveling from Pope AFB toward Tachikawa, with scheduled stops at McClellan AFB and Hickel AFB, encountered a critical mechanical emergency. While the aircraft was in the cruise phase of flight, approximately 1,046 km northeast of Hickam AFB, a propeller blade failed.
The crew attempted to manage the malfunction but found it impossible to feather the propeller. Faced with an unrecoverable situation, the crew members elected to bail out of the aircraft type during flight. Following the abandonment, the plane crashed into the ocean.
Of the five people on board, there were one fatality and four survivors who were subsequently rescued.
Findings
The investigation determined that the primary factor in the loss of the aircraft was a propeller blade failure while in flight.