Accident Overview
On September 25, 1999, at approximately 1726 Hawaiian standard time, Big Island Air flight 58, a Piper PA-31-350 (Chieftain) registered as N411WL, crashed on the northeast slope of Mauna Loa volcano near Volcano, Hawaii. The pilot and all nine passengers on board were killed. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post-impact fire.
Flight Details
The flight was conducted as an on-demand air taxi operation under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135. A visual flight rules (VFR) flight plan was filed, and visual meteorological conditions (VMC) existed at the Keahole-Kona International Airport in Kona, Hawaii, from which the airplane departed about 1622. The investigation determined that instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) prevailed in the vicinity of the accident site.
Investigation Findings
The probable cause of the accident was the pilot's decision to continue visual flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) in an area of cloud-covered mountainous terrain. Contributing to the accident were the pilot's failure to properly navigate and his disregard for standard operating procedures, including flying into IMC while on a VFR flight plan and failure to obtain a current preflight weather briefing.
The accident site was on the northeast slope of Mauna Loa, a large active volcano. No further details were provided regarding the specific circumstances leading to the crash.