HORROR footage captured the moment an out-of-control plane smashed into a building, killing two people.
The small aircraft was seen careering erratically before bursting into a fireball near Honolulu airport on Tuesday.
A plane was seen careering erratically before smashing into a building[/caption]
Thick plumes of black smoke emerged as the aircraft burst into a fireball[/caption]
The Kamaka Cessna 208 Caravan was on a training flight before tragedy struck.
Footage taken from a highway showed the plane careering before taking a dip.
It then plunged toward the ground, where plumes of thick black smoke were seen in the distance.
Then, there was a fireball, and the plumes became even thicker.
Witnesses told how they heard a boom as the plane smashed into the abandoned building.
“I was working, and all of a sudden had a loud, one big boom, and I looked out, and there was just some freaking clouds of smoke, and my coworkers told me a plane crashed right next to our building,” one local told the CBS affiliate KGMB-TV.
Another local, Nancy Timco, said she thought the plane was unusually low before the crash happened.
Two people were killed, and one of the victims was named Hiram DeFries – a private school graduate who was in pilot training, according to local media.
DeFries, 22, graduated from the private college prep school Punahou in 2020 and was working toward getting his pilot’s license, as reported by the ABC affiliate KITV-TV.
Officials have not formally identified the victims on board the plane.
KGMB captured the pilot’s final conversations with the air traffic control officers.
“Kamaka Flight 689, you’re turning right, correct,” the tower said.
The pilot then reported back the plane was “out of control.”
“Okay, Kamaka 689, if you can land, if you can level it off, that’s fine,” the ATC officer said.
Ed Sniffen, the Hawaii Department of Transportation director, described the tragedy as “devastating.”
But, he warned, it could’ve been much worse.
HORROR SMASH
He credited the pilot for taking swift action that helped minimize impacts, per The Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
Sniffen said there was an aircraft fueling station nearby.
Rick Blangiardi, the mayor of Honolulu, described the crash as “heartbreaking.”
Federal Aviation Administration bosses have since launched a probe.
The building that the plane crashed into was empty as it was about to be demolished.
Roads near the crash site were closed temporarily as investigators surveyed the wreckage.
The smoke could be seen from a distance[/caption]
A Cessna 208 Caravan plane (stock)[/caption]
