The Federal Aviation Administration’s records show that ownership registration was pending for the Cessna that crash-landed Wednesday close to the Upolu Airport near Hawi on Hawaii island’s North Kohala coast.
The applicant is Big Island Gravity LLC, a skydiving company whose address listed online is 1 Upolu Airport Road in Hawi. The application is dated Aug. 9, which could indicate that the plane was recently purchased.
No name is given for the registered owner, but a post office box in Kapaau, near Hawi, was filled in for the owner’s address.
FAA records show the plane’s reciprocating engine, manufactured by Continental Motors, had an airworthiness date of May 24, 1982. The fixed wing, single- engine plane was manufactured in 1959.
The FAA said in response to an inquiry by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that it will investigate the crash that occurred at about 11 a.m. Wednesday near Upolu Airport.
The Hawaii County Fire Department reported that the sole person aboard the Cessna was the pilot, who received minor injuries and declined transport to a hospital.
The pilot told fire personnel, who immediately responded to the crash, that the plane experienced engine failure.
He said he was on his final approach to the runway, at an altitude of approximately 300 feet, when he lost engine power and made an emergency landing in the open field.
Neither the Fire Department nor the Police Department provided any details on damage to the plane or the age or identity of the pilot.
Big Island Gravity did not return calls to the Star-Advertiser.
