Panda Ranch - Honolulu

On April 30, 2006 at 08:00 PM, Panda Ranch - Honolulu experienced a crash involving Partenavia P.68, operated by Tora Flight Adventures, with the event recorded near Panda Ranch (Molokai) Hawaii.

The flight was categorized as charter/taxi (non scheduled revenue flight) and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

5 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 5 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 4, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The airplane descended into terrain during the takeoff initial climb from a private airstrip in dark night conditions. The four passengers had been flown to the departure airport earlier in the day. After several hours at the destination, the pilot and passengers boarded the airplane and waited for two other airplanes to depart. During the initial climb, the pilot banked the airplane to the right, due to the upsloping terrain in the opposite direction (left) and noise abatement concerns; this maneuver was a standard departure procedure. The airplane collided with the gradually upsloping terrain, coming to rest upright. The pilot did not believe that he had experienced a loss of power. The accident occurred in dark night conditions, about 1 hour after sunset. In his written report, the pilot said he only had 10 hours of total night flying experience.

Aircraft reference details include registration N4574C, MSN 310, year of manufacture 1983.