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No injuries to pilot, sole occupant, aboard Cessna that flipped over at Lanai Airport

Leila Fujimori

A single-engine Cessna 172P flipped over during a landing just before 11:30 a.m. today at Lanai Airport, and the pilot managed to get out on her own, authorities said.

The Federal Aviation Administration will be investigating, FAA spokesman Rick Breitenfeldt said in an email.

Hawaii Department of Transportation spokesman Jai Cunningham said that during the landing, the Cessna plane apparently skidded off the runway and flipped over.

The sole occupant of the Cessna was a female pilot, he said.

The trainer pilot exited the plane unassisted, and was treated and released by medic personnel, the Maui Police Department said.

Police officers from Lanai Patrol responded to the crash at 11:20 a.m., and found a Cessna Sky Hawk flipped over on a dirt access road near the runway while landing at the airport, MPD said.

According to the FAA’s online database, the plane, whose tail number is N3929, is owned by Lani Lea Sky Tours LLC of Honolulu.

A call to the company was not returned.

Officials inspected the runway this afternoon and took a number of photos, which were sent to the National Transportation Board, Cunnigham said. With the NTSB’s consent, the plane is being moved this afternoon, he said.

Lanai Airport had no disruption of service, Cunningham said.

Authorities did not have information on where the plane was arriving from.

The National Weather Service said two hours before and two hours after the crash, winds were light and variable at 4 mph to 9 mph out of the west or northwest at the airport, although gusty trades arrived later in the afternoon. (Tradewinds were blowing 18 mph to 20 mph at the northern end of the island.)

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