Hilo - Honolulu

On April 22, 1992 at 03:53 PM, Hilo - Honolulu experienced a crash involving Beechcraft E18, operated by Scenic Air Tours, with the event recorded near Mt Haleakala Hawaii.

The flight was categorized as charter/taxi (non scheduled revenue flight) and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

9 people were known to be on board, 9 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 1, passengers on board: 8, passenger fatalities: 8, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. During the air tour flight the pilot had radioed his intentions to FSS to overfly an area about 5 miles southwest of the island of Maui. Approximately 10 minutes later the airplane impacted mountainous terrain on the island. IMC prevailed at the time and location of the accident. The pilot did not possess the minimum hours stipulated in the company ops manual to qualify as a captain. He falsified the employment application and resume. The company did not pursue substantive pre employment background checks, nor were they required by the FAA to do so. Regulations are needed for air tour operators that will enable FAA inspectors to require, rather than merely encourage, operators to adhere to procedures that offer the safety improvements of sfar 50-2 and FAA handbook 8400.10 bulletin 92-01. All nine occupants were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration N342E, MSN BA-308, year of manufacture 1957.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 20.7077°, -156.2576°.