HONOLULU — Federal investigators will review repair and inspection records on the skydiving plane that became inverted before crashing shortly after takeoff on Oahu’s North Shore, killing all 11 people on board in the deadliest civil aviation accident since 2011.
The same plane sustained substantial damage to its tail section in a 2016 accident while carrying skydivers over Northern California.
Repairs were then made to get the plane back into service, National Transportation Safety Board officials said at a news conference Sunday.
“We will be looking at the quality of those repairs and whether it was inspected and whether it was airworthy,” the NTSB’s Jennifer Homendy said.
The plane was equipped to carry 13 people, she said.
“Weight and balance has a factor in the safety of these operations and that’s a calculation that needs to be made before a plane is operated,” she said.
In the 2016 incident, the twin-engine plane stalled three times and spun repeatedly before the pilot managed to land it after the skydivers jumped out, the NTSB said in its investigative report. The plane was too heavily weighted toward the back, which was blamed on the pilot.
The plane remains on the field at Dillingham Airfield, and it could stay there for three or four days before being removed to a secure location. The airport remains closed.
The NSTB will issue a preliminary report in about two weeks. The final report, which will include the cause of the accident, could take up to two years, but Homendy said the NTSB has at times issued urgent safety recommendations before the final report, if warranted.
Friday’s crash was the most deadly civil aviation accident in the United States since a 2011 Reno Air Show wreck killed a pilot and 10 spectators in Nevada.
Officials have not named the victims in Friday’s North Shore crash. An official with the mayor’s office said Monday would be the earliest any information is released.
However, at least one family is sharing their grief before getting the official word, saying Casey Williamson, 29, was one of the victims.
Williamson’s love of adventure led him to winter snowboarding in Vail, Colo., and summer skydiving in Moab, Utah. A year-and-a-half ago, he found his way to Hawaii, where he could skydive year-round.
Williamson was his mother Carla Ajaga’s only child, his cousin Natacha Mendenhall said.
“We’re all very upset,” said Mendenhall, speaking from her home in Fort Worth, Texas. “She cannot really talk right now. What she wants everyone to know is how full of life her son was, how loving he was.”
Williamson, who was from Yukon, Okla., worked as an instructor and as a videographer who filmed customers as they dove. He was trying to earn more jumping hours and learn the trade, Mendenhall said.
Williamson’s family has not been officially notified of his death. But they provided Honolulu police with Williamson’s name and date of birth, and the police confirmed he was on the flight, Mendenhall said.
