- The
NTSB 's undersea photos show the wreck of a cargo plane that ditched off the coast of Hawaii. - The plane hit the water at about 1:30 a.m. local time on July 2. Both pilots escaped.
- The wreckage was found on the ocean floor at depths between 360 and 420 feet.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released the first underwater images of a Boeing 737-200 cargo plane that plunged into the sea near Honolulu on July 2.
Transair Flight 810 was forced to ditch at around 1:30 a.m. local time after experiencing engine trouble. There were two pilots on board, both of whom escaped.
To locate the wreckage, investigators used undersea robots and sonar scanning technology, the NTSB said.
Major components of the airplane including the fuselage, both wings, both engines, and the tail, were located on the ocean floor at depths between 360 and 420 feet. The depth meant that divers were unable to recover flight data and cockpit voice recorders, the NTSB said.
The airplane plunged into the sea two miles from Kalaeloa Airport.
"The pilots had reported engine trouble and were attempting to return to Honolulu when they were forced to land the aircraft in the water," the Federal Aviation Administration said.
According to audio recordings obtained by HawaiiNewsNow, one of the pilots told air traffic controllers: "We've lost number one engine and we're coming straight to the airport. We're pretty low on speed. It doesn't look good."
Both pilots were rescued by the Coast Guard, authorities confirmed. One pilot was in critical condition and the other was in serious condition, HawaiiNewsNow reported.
Coast Guard Lieutenant Alex Mead said the critically injured pilot had reached a point of extreme exhaustion by the time he was pulled to safety, and that he was unable to verbally communicate, per HawaiiNewsNow.