9 killed in King Air skydiving crash, Dillingham Airfield, Hawaii

[onetrack]

Witnesses say they sighted the aircraft go down whilst inbound, and it crashed onto a fence, away from the runway. It caught fire upon impact, and there are no survivors from all on board.

 

[/url]https://www.staradvertiser.com/2019/06/21/photo-gallery/9-dead-aircraft-crash-dillingham-airfield/

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/22/us/hawaii-twin-engine-plane-crash/index.html

 

 

[ClintonB]

Very sad, especially with family there waiting/watching. Fire chief said plane was inbound with nine on board, wondering if that is correct as jumpers should have been gone when inbound.

 

 

[onetrack]

Clinton, there could have been a technical problem that required a return to the airfield, before an adequate jump height was achieved.

 

 

[onetrack]

Update - the Hawaii late evening news (10.00PM) is carrying an extended interview with Tim Sakahara from the Hawaii DOT, and he is stating that the crash occurred on takeoff.

 

Witness video footage of the burning wreckage, apparently taken from the Farrington Hwy that runs parallel to the airfield, appears to show the aircraft wreckage against the airport runway side fence.

 

Officials are stating that the victims were 6 skydiving company employees and 3 skydiving clients, who were going to carry out tandem jumps.

 

[/url]https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2019/06/22/authorities-responding-reports-possible-plane-crash-north-shore/

 

 

[cooperplace]

Clinton, there could have been a technical problem that required a return to the airfield, before an adequate jump height was achieved.

exactly

 

 

[Guest deanfi]

Sadly ABC are now reporting 11 deaths , over on Kathryn's report it says that aircraft had a spin incedent in 2016

 

[/url]http://www.kathrynsreport.com/

 

 

[cooperplace]

skydiving operations seem to have a high accident/incident rate, sadly

 

 

[Thruster88]

Sadly ABC are now reporting 11 deaths , over on Kathryn's report it says that aircraft had a spin incedent in 2016

 

[/url]http://www.kathrynsreport.com/

Losing one side of the horizontal stabilizer and elevator in a spin and still make a recovery (2016) has got to be A first, sadly not so lucky this time.

 

 

[facthunter]

I did it for a while, usually in a 182. Yeah I reckon it's pretty risky, but I needed hours and was young . (and maybe lucky). Nev

 

 

[derekliston]

I did it for a while, usually in a 182. Yeah I reckon it's pretty risky, but I needed hours and was young . (and maybe lucky). Nev

It shouldn’t be too risky provided the jump planes are properly maintained and not overloaded, sadly I am not sure that is always the case. I realise that with passenger seats out a plane can carry more passengers and I’m not sure what would be the average weight of a tandem jump twosome plus chute. I have seen six tandems plus camera jumper plus pilot climb into a Cessna Grand Caravan. Maybe you can enlighten me!

 

 

[cooperplace]

[/url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_New_Zealand_Fletcher_FU24_crash

 

CoG issue. I worry that the sky-dive community regards aircraft as secondary to their main aim.

 

 

[onetrack]

The article below, written by a pilot of a skydiving King Air says W&B are rarely a problem when skydiving with the King Air.

 

He says most King Airs can handle "up to 15 jumpers" - but then goes on to qualify that statement, with a wide range of variables.

 

One has to suspect this King Air was near to fully loaded - and with a major fire on impact, it was obviously carrying a substantial amount of fuel.

 

I understand that the turboprops have a very good record as regards EFATO, with the chances of EFATO with them, being much less than a piston-powered twin.

 

One has to then suspect pilot error - and we did see a trim error in a King Air recently, that lead to a low-level runway departure, in a very similar fashion to this crash.

 

[/url]http://diverdriver.com/king-air-90/

 

Reading the King Air crash reports and the piloting advice, shows that ensuring skydiver clearance to the horizontal stabilizer on exit, is a crucial point, with at least one skydiver fatality from contacting the HS.

 

But if you watch the video of the "King Air stalls while dropping skydivers", you'll note one skydiver just misses the HS by a hairs breadth on exit - not helped by doing so, with his back to it!

 

 

[facthunter]

With people all over the place including hanging out in the airstream on one side and very near stall speed with no power and it's not RISKY.?? THEY decide when to jump I just try to provide the optimum situation to jump as long as I can, and get up and down as quickly as I can to keep their cost down. Their main worry. I'd probably still do it so I haven't learned from my foolishness and I don't need the hours. Nev

 

 

[Guest deanfi]

Worst nightmare would be a chute opening in the plane , has and will continue to happen for a variety of reasons.

 

If your lucky it will remain inside and not wrap around the tail , this video is of a premature opening

 

 

[cooperplace]

my god, chute wrapped around tail, probably = game over. Yet another reason to stay well away from this sport.

 

 

[IBob]

In 185s we used to hook the static lines to the base frame of pilot's seat.

 

Somewhere is a pic of a student coming down on a reserve parachute...and dangling below him is the static line with the pilot seat at the end of it..............

 

 

[facthunter]

All in control. I was given a knife to handle the chute tangled on the tail. How the hell one would do anything with that eludes ME. Nev

 

 

[IBob]

They gave a knife to the pilot???

 

Jumpmasters used to carry a knife...usually some sort of hunting knife. This was for use if a student got hung up on a static line under the aircraft, instead of falling away. The theory then went as follows:

 

If the student had their wits about them, they indicated as much by placing their hands on their helmet. On seeing this, the jumpmaster saws through the static line, the student falls away and deploys his/her reserve. Great!

 

In the absence of student wits, the jumpmaster was instead expected to shimmy down the static line and wraps his legs round some part of the witless victim, then saw through the static line, then reach round and deploy the student's reserve, then fall away and deploy his own canopy.

 

One heard of people who knew people who had once done this...but one never came across anyone who actually did. Though there was considerable debate amongst jumpmasters as to where to have the knife (between the teeth?) while shimmying down, and whether wearing gloves might prevent one falling off.............(