Honolulu Airport Plane Crash: Kamaka Air on Oahu, Hawaii

Hawaii hotel guests staying at Waikiki Beach who happened to be looking south or westward from their room or balcony at 3:15 p.m. on December 17, 2024 probably noticed the dense black smoke billowing up from the direction of Daniel K. Inouye Honolulu International Airport (HNL). The airport is just seven miles from Waikiki and easy to make out in the distance from the higher floors of many hotels.

What appeared to be a major fire in the industrial park just north of the airport unfortunately turned out to have been caused by a plane crash of a single engine Cessna 208B Grand Caravan aircraft. Owned and operated by Kamaka Air, a Hawaii-based air cargo services company, the aircraft was departing on a pilot training flight to the neighbor island of Lanai.

Both the very experienced instructor and the student receiving lessons in the turbine-powered aircraft were fatally injured. Fortunately, the Cessna hit an unoccupied warehouse building adjacent to the airport, so there were no injuries on the ground. The instructor completed 1,746 total flight hours and the licensed student had 430 hours, with both holding commercial licenses to operate the aircraft.

The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report in January that described the moments leading up to the Honolulu plane crash. Air traffic control communications provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) indicates that the taxi to the active runway and clearance to depart were normal and uneventful. Aircraft departing from runway 4-left (4L), to the northeast, are required to make a right turn to parallel the waterfront after departure. This is the same departure procedure for commercial jets that are regularly seen climbing just offshore of Waikiki before passing Diamond Head.

Inexplicably, immediately after takeoff the aircraft began to turn to the left as it passed the departure end of runway 4L. When Honolulu airport air traffic control asked the pilot to confirm the expected right turn, the response was, “We are…we have…we are out of control here.” Moments later the aircraft crashed and was engulfed in flames.

Each wing fuel tank had been filled with 80 gallons of aviation fuel prior to departure, so the impact caused a large fire, with heavy black smoke that could be seen for many miles. Jet and general aviation fuel is highly combustible and contains carbon, which explains why the smoke from this fuel is deep black in color.

While it often takes a year or even two before a final NTSB accident report is released to the public depending on the complexity of what happened, there is widespread speculation that the aircraft may have been incorrectly repaired during recent maintenance.

At the trailing edge of each wing is a device called an aileron which by moving up or down, much like flaps, will cause one wing to drop lower while the other is raised. By turning the pilot’s yoke, the aileron is engaged. If a maintenance error occurred, it may involve how the ailerons were reattached. This is speculation at this point but is one line of investigation that the NTSB is exploring.

Some of the tallest hotels that offer excellent views towards the airport, downtown Honolulu, Pacific Ocean, Waikiki Beach, and Diamond Head include:

Of course, Hawaii vacationers don’t choose their hotel or request a high floor so that they can see the airport, but the views from many Waikiki and Honolulu hotels are well worth paying for. In this instance, rather than seeing the sparkling ocean or stunning mountains, the heavy smoke from a plane crash would definitely stand out from just a few miles away.