Three people aboard a single-engine Cessna 172 aircraft were injured — two of them critically — after the plane crashed Tuesday shortly after takeoff at Hilo Airport.
The crash site was near oil storage tanks, Keaukaha subdivision, Keaukaha Elementary School and the pier. School was in session when the plane crashed at 1:50 p.m.
"We felt this really loud boom, so we ran down the street and we could see it," said Nahaku Dayton, 20, one of about 32 students in electrical and carpentry programs working on a house in Keaukaha.
"The crash area was near the oil refinery," he said. "It landed in the airfield, but it was pretty close to the Keaukaha district, close to the houses and close to the docks."
According to Federal Aviation Administration records, the plane is owned by Barlow Aviation LLC, a Hawaii business. State Department of Transportation spokesman Tim Sakahara said Iolani Air leases the plane.
Sakahara said he did not know whether the plane was being used for a tour or instruction, but the company’s website shows it runs tours and rents planes. It allows visiting pilots to fly a plane with or without an instructor or guide pilot on board.
An Iolani Air employee at the Kona office said the company had recently been sold.
Representatives of either company could not be reached for comment.
FAA and National Transportation Safety Board personnel are investigating the crash.
The crash site was near Runway 21, the shorter of the two runways at Hilo Airport.
"Just shortly after takeoff, the plane experienced problems and came down in the grassy field just at the edge of the airport property near the fence line," Sakahara said.
He said two men and a woman were aboard the four-seat plane.
The airport’s Aircraft Rescue & Firefighting crew responded to the scene and evacuated the passengers and pilot. Two Hawaii County Fire Department medic units transported the three to Hilo Medical Center, where a spokeswoman said two victims were in critical condition and a third was in stable condition.
No flights were delayed or canceled as a result of the accident.
Pono Warfield, 71, a Keaukaha resident, said: "I heard this loud rumbling noise. I went out to see what it was, and it just stopped.
"I told my wife, ‘I think a plane just crashed,’" he said, adding that he drove out to his son’s house to get closer and snapped a few pictures.
At the crash site the plane faced the runway, said freelance photographer Tim Wright. He added that the plane’s front end was damaged, exposing the engine, its hood ripped off. Also, its wings were slightly damaged, and the top (pilot’s side) was dented.
