Two dead in O‘ahu plane crash

HONOLULU — A single-engine plane crashed at an airport northwest of Honolulu on Saturday, killing two people, authorities said.

Crews treated a man in his 60s with traumatic injuries before he was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, Honolulu Emergency Medical Services spokeswoman Shayne Enright told the Star-Advertiser.

Paramedics declared another man, also in his 60s, dead at Dillingham Airfield. No other injuries were reported.

“I’m deeply saddened to hear the news of two people losing their lives in today’s crash. My heart goes out to the family and friends of the victims. Thank you to all the first responders on scene today,” Mayor Kirk Caldwell said on Twitter.

Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) offered condolences on Saturday, and called for a closure of the airfield until operations can be evaluated for safety.

“Our hearts are with those affected by today’s tragic accident,” Schatz said in a Saturday statement. “It has become clear that Dillingham Airfield cannot continue to operate safely. Our obligation is to keep people safe, and the only way to do that is to keep the airfield closed. I urge the FAA and HDOT to shut down the airfield until they can guarantee safety of operations at Dillingham.”

Congressman Ed Case also questioned small aircraft safety regulations on Saturday.

“It’s unbelievable that our island community has suffered now a fourth fatal tragedy involving a tour helicopter/small aircraft in less than a year,” said Case in a Saturday statement about the incident.

He continued: “While it will probably be more than a year until officials are able to determine the cause of this crash, the Federal Aviation Administration cannot treat this as an isolated incident as it did with the previous three, but must immediately ask itself the hard question it has thus far avoided of whether existing tour helicopter/small aircraft regulations are simply inadequate to protect the safety of those in the aircraft and of the over one million of us that they fly over every day.”

It is unclear what caused the Cessna 305 plane to crash, which the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.

“The NTSB is the lead agency, and it typically takes the NTSB a year or more to determine a probable cause of an accident,” FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said.

Last year, a skydiving plane crashed at the airfield, killing all 11 people aboard.

The department announced earlier this month that the state is transferring Dillingham Airfield back to the Army effective July 1.