Plane crash mystifies investigators
After a 16-month inquiry, the National Transportation Safety Board has been unable to determine why a Cessna aircraft flying north of Molokai smacked into the ocean and sank, killing both people on board.
In a report issued Friday, the agency listed the official cause as loss of control for "undetermined" reasons but noted that clouds, rain and darkness were factors.
The wreckage was never recovered and is believed to be under about 300 feet of water.
The single-engine Cessna 177B, owned by Anderson Aviation in Honolulu, was on a flight from Honolulu to Hana, Maui, when it dropped off the radar just after 9 p.m. on July 27, 2006.
Aboard were Joshua Tabisola, 25, a flight instructor with Anderson Aviation, and Jacob Jacob, 22, a commercial pilot in training.
The darkness and heavy clouds would have required that the plane be navigated based on cockpit instruments rather than visual references, the NTSB noted.