9 reportedly killed in Hawaiian skydiving plane crash during 'sunset tandem' excursion
- Nine people died when a small skydiving plane reportedly crashed during a "sunset tandem" excursion mission.
- Multiple reports said six crew members and three passengers were aboard before the plane erupted into flames.
- Honolulu Fire Chief Manuel Neves called the crash the "most tragic aircraft" incident in Hawaii's history.
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Nine people died in a fiery skydiving plane crash in Hawaii, according to multiple reports.
The plane went down near Dillingham Airfield on Oahu's North Shore Friday night, the Hawaii Department of Transportation said in a tweet.
When crews arrived at the scene, the plane was "fully engulfed in fire," Honolulu Fire Chief Manuel Neves told the Associated Press.
The plane was a Beechcraft 65 King Air operated by Oahu Parachute Center and had just taken off on a "sunset tandem" skydiving excursion, according to CNN.
Of the nine killed, three were customers and six were employees, Hawaii News Now reported.
"In my 40 years as a firefighter here in Hawaii, this is the most tragic aircraft incident that we've had," he told reporters at the scene, about an hour's drive north of Honolulu.
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell tweeted that he was "closely following the tragic developments" of the crash, and said, "our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the victims."
It is unclear what caused the crash. Neves told CNN that the Federal Aviation Administration will be taking over the investigation into the crash.
Hawaii News Now noted that a Beechcraft plane was also at the center of a December 1981 crash that killed 11 people. The group was planning to parachute into Aloha Stadium before the twin-engine plane crashed into Pearl Harbor.
The most recent civilian airplane tragedy came in May 2016, when five people were killed when a Cessna 182H crashed at a Kauai airport. Investigators later concluded that it was caused by a loss of engine power.
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