The National Transportation Safety Board issued a preliminary investigation report that could provide clues as to what might have caused the Dec. 17 Kamaka Air Flight 689 crash that killed two young pilots shortly after takeoff on an instructional flight to Lanai.
A preliminary review of air traffic control communications from the Federal Aviation Administration shows that the Cessna 208B was cleared to depart runway 4L at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport and take a right turn.
But instead of turning right, the plane immediately started turning left at the departure end of the runway.
The Honolulu tower controller asked the pilot to confirm they were turning right.
“We are … we have … we are out of control here,” the instructor pilot responded.
Robert M. Katz, a Dallas-based commercial pilot and flight instructor with 43 years of experience, suggests the issue could have been avoided with proper maintenance. Also, the pilot might have neglected to run through a preflight checklist of items, which could have caught the problem before takeoff, he suggests.
He suspects the rigging of the cables between the control wheel and control surfaces was done improperly during maintenance.
He said the cables control ailerons — “little flippers” located on the trailing edge of each wing tip. When making a right turn, the aileron on the right wing should flip up; and the one on the left wing should flip down, he said.
“If rigged backwards, then just the opposite will occur,” Katz said.
He cites the 1973 plane crash that killed Aristotle Onassis’s son, Alexander, as an example.
An independent investigator hired by Onassis concluded the crash occurred as a result of the reversing of the aileron connecting cables during the installation of a new control column, the Greek City Times reported.
Similarly, that crash at the Athens airport occurred shortly after takeoff.
“Alexander Onassis was instructing a potential new pilot of the plane, Donald McCusker, at the time of the crash, in his role as President of Olympic Aviation,” the Greek City Times reported.
“A few seconds after takeoff from runway 33, the plane’s right wing dropped and stayed down, and the plane crashed shortly after losing balance, in a flight lasting no more than 15 seconds.”
The NTSB’s preliminary report in the Kamaka Air crash does not give a cause, merely preliminary findings, since the investigation by the NTSB and the FAA is ongoing.
The plane had continued a shallow climbing left turn, passing over an industrial area northeast of the airport. It headed north-northeasterly, then turned southwesterly.
“The airplane’s left turn continued to steepen, and it eventually descended nose down into the industrial area,” the report said. It crashed into a vacant concrete building nearly 2,000 feet from the end of the runway. Fire broke out after the crash, incinerating much of the wreckage, the report said.
Each of the plane’s two wing tanks had 80 gallons of fuel added to them before departure, the NTSB report said.
The left wing made initial contact with a large air-conditioner unit on the building.
The plane then struck a concrete stairwell structure on the roof of the building, and continued into an adjacent parking lot south of the building.
The NTSB investigative team is reviewing the numerous video recordings from security cameras, vehicle dash-mounted cameras and other recording devices. The footage captured the plane’s departure from the runway, its shallow left turn, “which appeared to steepen significantly prior to impact,” the report said.
Had there been engine failure during Kamaka Air Flight 689, which took off at 3:14 p.m. and crashed at 3:15 p.m. Dec. 17, the pilot would have mentioned it, but he does not, Katz said. Instead, the pilot said, “We are out of control.”
The aileron system has a lot of moving parts and requires maintenance, attention to detail and verification that the work was done correctly because “it’s very easy to be done backwards,” Katz said.
He said one way to determine if that was done is by finding out when the airplane underwent maintenance and the nature of the maintenance performed.
Officials of Kamaka Air could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Kamaka Air said the instructor pilot was seated in the left seat and the pilot receiving instruction was on the right, the report said.
Preston Kaluhiwa, 26, was a Kamehameha Schools graduate and a certified flight instructor. Hiram deFries-Saronitman, 22, was a Punahou School graduate from Papakolea.
Both worked for Kamaka Air as pilots. They were scheduled to perform flight maneuvers and practice instrument approach procedures on that flight.
The report shows the instructor was fully credentialed. Kaluhiwa had a commercial pilot certificate and was a certified flight instructor for single-engine planes. He reported 1,746 total hours of civilian flight experience.
The pilot receiving instruction had a commercial pilot certificate. Kamaka Air said he had 430 total hours of civilian flight experience.
“But did he have the proficiency? Did he have the mindset to be thorough and judicious in the use of the checklist,” Katz said. “So much of what we do in aviation is based on the principle of crosschecking and verifying the function of our equipment and the consequences of our actions.”
Part of the checklist is to turn the control wheel and to look to see that the ailerons on each wing are turning properly, that the controls are operating correctly.
Katz said the cause might never be known for certain since the report says the Aircraft Data Acquisition System (ADAS), which monitors and automatically archives critical flight parameters, was found in the cockpit wreckage with its housing breached and circuit cards receiving heat damage.
The ADAS will be going to a lab in Washington, D.C., where investigators will use equipment to try to extract the data, but there’s no guarantee that it will be intact, Katz said.
The plane also was equipped with Spidertracks, which enabled real-time flight tracking and flight data monitoring.
If it was an engine problem, that data will be hard to piece together since both the engine and the ADAS were compromised, Katz said.
Katz said the cost to operate an airplane is $2,000 an hour (engine time) and a plane like the Cessna is worth roughly $4 million, so the profit margin is very narrow for airlines.
“It’s very tempting to cheapen, defer or neglect maintenance,” he said. “But look at what’s at risk. The loss of an airplane, the loss of lives. Imagine if it crashed into a Walmart” or other occupied buildings.
Memorial service
A celebration of life for Hiram deFries-Saronitman is scheduled Saturday in the Punahou School Dole Cafeteria and Thurston Chapel. A welcome and memories session is scheduled from 4-6 p.m., with a procession, ceremony and service at 6 p.m. A celebration with the family is set for 8:30 p.m. The attire is aloha wear.
