Kauai plane crash kills 5

HANAPEPE, Kauai >> Investigators spent the day scouring the wreckage of a skydiving tour plane that crashed at the end of a runway while taking off from Kauai’s Port Allen airport Monday morning, killing all five people on board.

The fiery crash left a scorched area of darkened brush surrounding the wreckage of the single-engine Cessna 182H. Investigators worked in gusty wind throughout the day in a blocked-off area.

Four people were pronounced dead at the scene, and a man was transported to Wilcox Hospital, where he died.

The pilot, two skydiving instructors and two tandem jumpers were believed to be on board when the Cessna went down, Kauai Fire Department officials said.

The plane was on a skydiving tour for SkyDive Kauai.

Cisco Campos, 68, of Ha­napepe was fishing near the runway at Port Allen when he heard the engine sputter after the aircraft took off. At the end of the runway, he said, it appeared the plane attempted to turn around to head back toward the airport when its engine caught fire and the plane then plummeted.

“It went straight down,” Campos said. “I think they were trying to turn around for land. They were going against the wind.”

He added, “It happened so fast.”

According to Hawaii News Now, among those on the plane was skydiving instructor Enzo Amitrano, 43.

“He was just the kind of guy who was easy to get along with,” his brother, Marco, told HNN. “He was really outgoing, super friendly. It’s like one of those really charismatic personalities that would draw people in. He was always the center of groups he was in.”

The plane crashed “under unknown circumstances” at about 9:30 a.m., said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor.

The crash site is a few feet outside a chain-link fence that surrounds a landing area for skydivers at the airport, which is also known as Burns Field.

The plane is registered to a Koloa company called D & J Air Adventures and was manufactured in 1965, according to the FAA. The company’s registered agent, David Timko, told the Associated Press that he had no comment, other than to offer his condolences to family members of the victims.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the accident.

Autopsies on all five victims will be conducted this week, according to county officials.

Reporters were kept away from a SkyDive Kauai trailer, which is situated more than 200 yards away from the crash site. About a dozen people near the trailer consoled one another and were assisted by Salvation Army officials.

Gina Kaulukukui, director of Life’s Bridges Kauai, and Padraic Gallagher, director of disaster services for the Kauai Red Cross, were also there to assist.

The brush fire ignited by the crash took Kauai firefighters an hour to extinguish. “It’s a tragic loss, loss of life. Our sympathies go out to the families,” Kauai Fire Chief Robert Westerman said.

SkyDive Kauai advertises on its website, “Safety comes first at Skydive Kauai. We use the most technologically advanced gear possible. We have a very experienced and friendly staff with U.S. National Skydiving Champion, Dave Timko, leading the way.”

According to a state website, Port Allen Airport is used for helicopter tours, ultralight aircraft traffic and skydiving, and is restricted to aircraft weighing less than 12,500 pounds.

The crash was reported shortly before a single-engine Beechcraft Sundowner with engine trouble made an emergency water landing off of Oahu’s Makaha Beach around 11:30 a.m. The two occupants of the Beechcraft suffered minor injuries.

A light sport aircraft, also known as a trike, crashed on Kauai in Polihale in 2014, killing pilot Gerry Charlebois, 54, and Mark McKenzie, 53, of Ontario.

Two crashes involving light sport aircraft on Kauai in 2011 took the lives of four people.