Cessna 172P accident near Kekaha, HI
On March 21, 2022, a Cessna 172P (airplane) was involved in an accident near Kekaha, HI. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- March 21, 2022
- Place
- Kekaha, HI
- Aircraft
- Cessna 172P · Airplane
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 22.072°N, 159.721°W
- NTSB ID
- 20220321104805
Official records · ANC22LA025
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn March 20, 2022, about 1457 Hawaii-Aleutian standard time, a Cessna 172N airplane, N98763, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident about 13 miles north of Kekaha, Hawaii, on the island of Kauai. The two pilots were fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 aerial observation flight. The accident airplane, owned and operated by the Civil Air Patrol, was conducting a routine hurricane/tsunami practice flight. Witnesses reported to the Kauai Police Department that just before the accident they saw an airplane flying low, and close to the mountain, in poor weather conditions, then hearing a loud crashing noise. A search and rescue helicopter, operated by the Kauai Fire Department, subsequently located the fragmented airplane wreckage in an area of steep mountainous terrain, and confirmed that there were no survivors. The airplane was equipped with ADS–B, which provides aircraft tracking to determine its position via satellite navigation or other sensors and periodically broadcasts it, enabling it to be tracked. The information can be received by air traffic control ground stations as a replacement for secondary surveillance radar, as no interrogation signal is needed from the ground. According to archived Federal Aviation Administration ADS-B data, after the airplane departed the Lihue Airport, it initially proceeded southwest, then it turned north as it neared the northwest side of the island. The standard flight route was to fly inland, passing the radar dome at Barking Sands PMRF before turning w
Probable cause
The pilot’s improper decision to continue the visual-flight-rules flight into low visibility conditions, which resulted in controlled flight into terrain.
More accidents in HI
- Beech 65-A90, Jun 22, 2019
- Piper PA-31-350, Sep 26, 1999
- Boeing 747-122, Feb 24, 1989
- Beech E18S, Apr 23, 1992
- Piper PA-31-350, Dec 24, 1987
Browse: Hawaii · Cessna aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
