The pilot of the Cessna 172 that crashed Tuesday at Hilo International Airport was performing a series of training maneuvers when the accident occurred, sending all three passengers to Hilo Medical Center.
The pilot of the Cessna 172 that crashed Tuesday at Hilo International Airport was performing a series of training maneuvers when the accident occurred, sending all three passengers to Hilo Medical Center.
Two later were transported to The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu in critical condition, while a third remained at Hilo Medical Center in stable condition.
The pilot, who was not identified, was practicing “touch-and-go maneuvers” about 1:50 p.m. when the crash occurred, according to Tim Sakahara, the state Department of Transportation’s public information officer.
Touch-and-go landings are common when a pilot is learning to fly a fixed-wing aircraft, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. The maneuver involves landing and then taking off again in rapid succession. It is a means of preparing a pilot to respond in an emergency situation.
However, there is some debate in the flight training community about whether touch-and-goes can open a pilot up to risk.
“Touch-and-go practice provides the advanced student and certificated pilot a technique for an emergency go-around should he or she detect a runway hazard after touching down — such as an animal or another airplane on the runway, or the inability to meet a land-and-hold-short requirement,” reads a safety article on the AOPA website. “Touch-and-goes can also reduce training time and student costs — but are these benefits worth the risks?”
Locked brakes, inadvertent raising of landing gear and other errors can occur during touch-and-goes, increasing the possibility for a crash, the article says.
However, there was no word Wednesday whether the maneuvers had anything to do with the cause of the Tuesday afternoon crash, or if the plane might have experienced an engine shutdown or other mechanical failure.
Federal investigators were scheduled to arrive Wednesday in Hilo to begin looking into the crash of the single-engine plane. The process could “take months” for them to determine what caused the accident, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor.
National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said Wednesday morning that the NTSB would be in charge of the investigation but would not send its own investigators, instead relying upon information provided by investigators with the FAA.
Holloway added neither the NTSB nor the FAA would release the names of the pilot or the passengers onboard the plane.
The plane crashed near the northeastern end of Runway 3/21, close to homes on Kauhane Avenue in Keaukaha. It is owned by Barlow Aviation in Honolulu and was being leased to Iolani Air Tour Co.
Calls made Wednesday to Iolani Air Operations Manager Chris Lambert were not returned.
The last accident involving a Cessna departing from the Hilo airport occurred Oct. 7, 2011, when a pilot reported losing power about 12 miles from Hilo because of fuel exhaustion, according to the NTSB’s online accident database. The pilot departed with 393 gallons, which he calculated would be good for a 14-hour flight, but about nine hours after takeoff he determined that because of a change in wind velocity, he would not reach his destination.
The pilot turned back toward Hilo, but ended up ditching the plane in the ocean and was rescued shortly after. The cause of the crash was determined to be the pilot’s “improper fuel planning.”
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.