Two men died in a powered hang glider crash Saturday morning at Kaena Point State Park on Oahu’s North Shore.
Honolulu Emergency Medical Services responded to the reported crash that occurred past Dillingham Airfield at about 8:15 a.m. The two men, one thought to be in his 50s to 60s and another believed to be in his 20s, were pronounced dead at the scene. Their names have not been released.
Denise Sanders, co-owner of Paradise Air Hawaii Inc., dba Paradise Hang Gliding, at Dillingham Airfield, said the motorized hang glider and pilot involved in the crash were contracted by the company. She would not identify the pilot but said he was the older of the two victims. She said she knew him for more than 20 years and considered him “a dear friend.”
The Federal Aviation Administration said the single-engine EDGE XT-912-L, a two-seat ultralight trike, “crashed under unknown circumstances” with two persons on board.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will be investigating. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide additional updates, according to the FAA.
The company’s hangar at the airfield was closed Saturday afternoon. “We are suspending operations while we work with the NTSB and the FAA,” Sanders said.
She said that before Saturday’s crash, Paradise Air had a perfect safety record since opening in 2002.
Paradise Air Hawaii Inc. is registered with the state’s Business Registration Division, listing its purpose as flight instruction. Sanders is listed as president, treasurer and secretary, and Thomas Sanders as vice president and director. Thomas Sanders, who is not among the victims, is listed on the company website as an FAA-certified flight instructor.
Paradise Air later issued a statement to news media indicating the two men who died were instructor and student.
“The flight instructor was highly experienced and had a perfect safety record working with our company. His aircraft was extremely well maintained,” the statement said. “We are all shocked and, like everyone, wonder what caused this tragedy today. We will work with authorities to try to find the cause. Our hearts are with the family and friends of both him and his flight student.”
According to the Paradise Air website, the company does not offer hang glider rides, only instruction at a cost of $255 for a 30-minute introductory flight lesson.
Although the company’s phone greeting describes the aircraft it uses as “powerized hang gliders,” Sanders described it as “light sport weight-shift control aircraft.”
She said the two men appeared to have died immediately in the crash.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources said it was temporarily closing the Mokuleia section of Kaena Point State Park until further notice in order to secure the site for NTSB investigators. Police closed Farrington Highway within the park boundary, not far from the end of the road.
A few people along the beach said they were unaware of the crash and were saddened by the news. Hikers who had gone on the trail earlier were coming out along the highway. One hiker who returned to his parked car at the airfield said he heard about the tragedy while on the trail but that the crash site was not visible as far as he could tell.
It’s uncertain if weather may have been a factor. The National Weather Service reported that at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Kaena Point, winds were out of the northeast, blowing at 8 mph with gusts up to 16 mph. Conditions were cloudy, with no rain.
The state operates Dillingham Airfield under a lease from the U.S. Army. Tenants include businesses offering flight training, skydiving, sightseeing, glider operations and hangars for private plane owners.
The airfield has seen at least two fatal incidents in the past three years. On June 21, 2019, an Oahu Parachute Center twin-engine Beechcraft BE65-A90 crashed moments after takeoff, killing all 11 aboard. An NTSB report in April 2021 blamed the crash on the pilot’s aggressive takeoff, which led to an aerodynamic stall, and wing damage from a previous incident that was not noted during an FAA inspection of the aircraft.
The company did not have the proper permits to take people skydiving at the time of the crash, according to documents released by the state.
Less than a year later, on Feb. 22, 2020, two pilots, both experienced fliers, were killed when a single- engine Cessna Ector 305A used as a glider tow plane crashed about 200 yards from the airfield.
