A skydiving plane that crashed in Hawaii, killing 11 people, was involved in a frightening incident three years ago in Northern California, according to government investigative records.
The Beechcraft King Air plane crashed and burned on Oahu island's north shore Friday evening.
In the 2016 incident, the twin-engine plane stalled three times and spun repeatedly before the pilot managed to land it safely, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its investigative report.
The incident prompted the 14 skydivers on board to jump earlier than planned to safety,
No one aboard survived the Hawaii crash, which left a small pile of smoky wreckage near the chain link fence surrounding Dillingham Airfield.
The plane turned around and appeared to be heading back to the airfield when it "flipped a reverse," skimmed some trees and crashed near the airfield's perimeter fence, witness Steven Tickemeyer told KHON television news. "We showed up a couple minutes after, and the whole plane was engulfed in flames," he said.
The crash appeared to be the worst US civil aviation accident since a 2011 accident at the Reno Air Show in Nevada that killed the pilot and 10 spectators.
Two Federal Aviation Administration inspectors went to the crash site on Friday, and National Transportation Safety Board investigators were expected to arrive Saturday evening.
Australian Associated Press
