Transair Aviation Boeing 737-275C plane crash
off Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Updated on
The Boeing 737-275C cargo operated by Transair/Rhoades Aviation took off from Honolulu, HI, USA to Kahului, HI, USA. 2 crewmembers were onboard. A few seconds after takeoff, the crew stopped the climb at about 2000 feet reporting they had lost the left-hand engine. The flight crew initiated a turn back to to Honolulu’s airport and advised they might lose their other engine. The crew requested the coast guard out. The aircraft did not make it to the airport and needed to ditch in the Ocean about 2.7 NM short of runway. Both crew were rescued, one pilot was airlifted to a hospital, the other taken ashore by a rescue boat and taken to a hospital. Both pilots received serious injuries.
As engine trouble were developing on the Boeing 737, the crew tried to come back to land at Honolulu’s airport. The Air Traffic Controllers cleared the aircraft to turn back giving them vectors to the airport. However, the crew reported they no longer had the airport in sight. The Air Traffic Controllers advised they had a low level alert from the flight. The crew was cleared to land on any runway, all operations at the airport were stopped. The controllers suggested diverting to Kalaeloa Airport, which was closer by. Then radio contact were lost with the aircraft.
The rescuers reported the debris field was about 1.25 NM long. When they arrived on the accident scene, they one pilot was standing at the tail of the aircraft waving at the helicopter, the other pilot hang on to a cargo net of cargo swimming around the aircraft.