Hilo International Airport

September 25, 2000

A Big Island Air Piper PA-31-350 ditched in the Pacific Ocean while attempting an emergency landing. The aircraft was destroyed. One fatal & seven injuries. Cause: fire in the right engine.

July 4, 1999

A General Aviation Services Inc. Beech 58 was destroyed following a collision with the runway during takeoff. The pilot was killed. The pilot took off, rotated at 3,000 feet, and impacted the runway about 6,300 feet from the takeoff roll. The wing struck the runway.

January 5, 1991

A Champion 7ECA aircraft took off, rolled into a steep right turn at midfield, stalled and crashed on an airport ramp area. Two people were seriously injured.

July 23, 1979

An Air Cargo Enterprises C-54 cargo plane spun out of control when the landing gear collapsed during the landing. The airport’s main runway was closed to all overseas airlines until the plane could be removed and holes in the asphalt runway could be repaired. There were no injuries.

August 20, 1968

A Pan American World Airways Boeing 707 jet, en route from Los Angeles to Honolulu, made a safe emergency landing after the plane’s emergency warning system indicated that the right outside engine was on fire. The 60 passengers and nine crew members were evacuated down an emergency exit chute. There was one minor injury to a passenger exiting on the chute.

November 30, 1964

A Cessna 182 Skylane, belonging to Murrayair, Ltd. crash landed short of the runway as the landing gear collapsed and the aircraft skidded into a fence some 150 feet off Runway 3. Both passengers escaped before the plane caught fire. One person received minor injuries.

February 13, 1964

A Hawaiian Airlines Convair ran off the end of the runway in a blinding rainstorm, after plowing through a fence, crossing the airport approach road, and coming to rest at a 30 degree angle. Only one of the 36 passengers was injured in the incident.

May 17, 1957

A Navy F9F Couger jet participating in Armed Forces Day ceremonies, overshot the runway and skidded 200 yards into dense undergrowth before skidding down a seven-foot embankment. The pilot suffered only minor injuries.