- Date
- October 28, 1989, 18:37 local (Oct 29, 1989, 04:37 UTC)
- Place
- Halawa,Molokai, HI
- Injuries
- 20 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N707PVDe Havilland DHC-6-300
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report July 29, 1992
- Report
- Board-adopted at Board Meeting
- Investigation class
- Class 1
- NTSB office
- Major Investigations Division
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- FAA report
- 19891028043379A
- Case key
- 15930
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The airplane's controlled flight into terrain as a result of the decision of the captain to continue flight under visual flight rules at night into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), which obscured rising mountainous terrain. Contributing to the accident was: the inadequate supervision of personnel, training, and operations by aloha islandair management and insufficient oversight of aloha islandair by the federal aviation administration particularily during a period of rapid operational expansion. (Ref: NTSB/AAR-90/05)
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
De havilland DHC-6, N707PV (aloha islandair flt 1712), collided with mountainous/hilly terrain near halawa bay, HI, while en route on a scheduled passenger flt at night from maui to molokai, HI. Impact occurred at an elevation of about 500 ft, shortly after the acft had descended over water, then crossed the shoreline. There was evidence that the captain had made a navigational error & mistakenly believed that he was circumnavigating the northern portion of mokokai island. The acft crashed while on a heading that was parallel with the island's northern shoreline. Low clouds obscured the mtn tops in the area of the acdnt. There was also evidence of inadequate supervision of psnl, training & opns by aloha islandair management & insufficient oversight of aloha islandair by the FAA during a period of aloha islandair's rapid opnl expansion.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N707PV
- Reported as
- De Havilland DHC-6-300
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 400
- Airframe hours
- 19,875
- Engine
- P&W PT6A-27, 620 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Part 135
- Registered owner
- Aloha Islandair
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · October 19, 1989 · 59 hours before
- Departed
- OGG · Maui, HI
- Destination
- MKK · Molokai, HI
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 30
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 3,542 total · 1,668 in this make and model · 1,811 as pilot in command · 259 in the last 90 days · 67 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 50° at 11 knots
- Temperature
- 77 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.