Hilo International Airport

July 9, 2024

  • In the early hours of Tuesday, July 9, 2024, operations at Hilo International Airport came to a temporary standstill when HPD officers were called to investigate a security concern. TSA staff had flagged a carry-on bag belonging to a departing male Japanese national after x-ray screening revealed two objects resembling grenades. Soon it was revealed to be replicas and no people were harmed and the airport resumed normally afterwards.

June 12, 2021

  • Runway 8/26 temporarily closed from dusk to dawn due to malfunctioning lights

December 20, 2018

  • A short 360-300 blew its tires landing on Hilo Airport, blocking the main runway. All passengers and crewmembers left unharmed.

August 11, 2017

  • A Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767 flight from Lihue to Los Angeles made an emergency landing to Hilo Airport due to smoke coming out of the cockpit. It carried 276 passengers and all left unharmed.

2015

  • A Cessna 172 aircraft crashed caused by a sudden engine power loss. The 21 year old student pilot who p flew the aircraft fractured a cheekbone, left ankle, and two leg bones. With him was his pilot instructor and female student pilot whom were transported with critical conditions.

2013

  • A helicopter came to rest on its side in a grassy field near Hilo International Airport after making a hard landing. Five people were on board including a family of for From Texas. The passengers left unharmed except the father who sustained a cut on the leg and made a statement that the helicopter did not have enough fuel for a round trip to the volcano.

February 13, 2008

  • Two Pilots was fired for sleeping on Go flight from Honolulu to Hilo. A 45 minutes flight took doubled the amount as they passed the Hilo Airport by 15-30 miles before they woke up and made a flight back to Hilo Airport and landed safely. The Pilots failed to respond to dozen calls from air traffic controls. The flight carried 40 passengers and left unharmed but the two pilots were fired after wards.

 2006

  • October 2
    • Shortly after taking off at 9:30 a.m., the pilot of a Hughes MD500E tour helicopter reported mechanical difficulties while hovering 8-10 feet above the ground. The aircraft made a hard landing about 173 feet from its takeoff point, causing damage to the right skid and bending the boom leading to the tail rotor. On board were two Oregon couples and the pilot, a 33-year-old woman from Hilo. A 69-year-old woman was hit with minor injuries, while a 45-year-old woman sustained minor injuries but was treated at the scene. The pilot and the two men aboard were unharmed.
  • August 17
    • The FBI and the Transportation Security Administration are investigating reports of an unidentified object resembling a missile seen over the Hilo Airport area on Tuesday morning, according to Hawaii County Civil Defense. Witnesses provided conflicting descriptions of its direction and widely varied size estimates, ranging from one foot to 12 feet in length. While one report indicated the object was moving over the airport’s main runway, another suggested it was traveling north, away from the 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.