The National Transportation Safety Board said it is nearing completion of a probe about the forced ocean ditching of a commercial flight off Molokai in which state Health Director Loretta Fuddy died after evacuating the airplane.

Fuddy, 65, died of cardiac arrhythmia after she and eight others evacuated the Cessna 208B airplane on Dec. 11, 2013. It took about 80 minutes for rescuers to arrive, authorities said.

The Makani Kai Air flight had left Kalaupapa, Molokai, en route to Honolulu and was in the air about two minutes before encountering flight problems.

While board spokesman Keith Holloway said at this point no conclusions have been drawn, some industry observers noted past problems with Pratt & Whitney engines in the Cessna 208B that prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to propose requiring repeated inspections of the aircraft’s compressor turbine blade and the removal of those failing inspection.

The FAA’s proposed airworthiness directive was issued Oct. 29, 2013, involving Pratt & Whitney turboprop engines PT6A-114 and PT6-A114A, as a result of several compressor turbine blade failures that led to power loss of the engine. Two people died in the resulting accidents.

“Investigation by engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) has determined that when operated at high power and high temperature settings, the subject CT blades are prone to crack/fracture as a result of creep and/or sulfidation” — a process related to rusting, the FAA said in its proposal.

The proposal was eventually adopted and amended to add an improved turbine blade called a “single crystal CT blade” developed by Pratt & Whitney.

Fuddy’s brother Lewis Fuddy Jr. filed a lawsuit in 2014 suing the engine maker, Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp., over the death of his sister and alleging it knew about the fault in the engine and did nothing to correct the problem.

Asked why the investigation has taken more than two years, Holloway said the original investigator-in-charge retired and that many of his cases went to other investigators who also had heavy workloads.

“Some NTSB investigations take longer than others do,” Holloway said.

The airplane was recovered in mid-December 2013 by Sea Engineering Inc. in an estimated 40 to 60 feet of water. The engine was sent to Pratt & Whitney for examination, according to the federal officials.

Holloway confirmed that not only the pilot, but also passengers heard a loud bang shortly before the engine’s loss of power and forced ditching in the ocean.

On Nov. 6, 2012, a pilot flying a Cessna model 208B with a Pratt & Whitney PT6A-114A reported engine power loss and died in a crash in Wichita, Kan.

The National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause of the Wichita crash was the total loss of engine power as a result of a fractured compressor turbine blade due to high cycle fatigue.

On Nov. 29, 2012, a pilot aboard a Cessna 208B with a Pratt Whitney PT6A-114A heard a loud bang followed by engine power loss that forced him to make a landing on a highway at Bryans Corner, Okla., according to the agency.

The board said an investigation into the Bryans Corner incident found one of the compressor turbine blades was fractured from fatigue.

Fuddy and the eight others were forced to evacuate the airplane a half-mile off Molokai and keep afloat in the ocean. Fuddy, who was in a life jacket, held hands with state health Deputy Director Keith Yamamoto, who tried to get her to relax, according to a third passenger. But at some point she became unresponsive.