1949 Trans-Air Hawaii accident near Maui
Curtiss C-46F-1-CU · The Trans-Air Hawaii accident near Kahului occurred on 27 May 1949
From Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) to Kahului International Airport (OGG)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 2 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Curtiss C-46F-1-CU
- Aircraft type
- Curtiss C-46
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N5615V
- Operator
- Trans-Air Hawaii
- Onboard fatalities
- 2
- Route
- From Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)To Kahului International Airport (OGG)
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
The Trans-Air Hawaii accident near Kahului occurred on 27 May 1949. On that day a Curtiss C-46F-1-CU of Trans-Air Hawaii, operating a domestic cargo flight from Honolulu to Kahului, crashed after a progressing engine fire had damaged the wing structure to such an extent that the aircraft broke apart in the air. Both occupants of the aircraft were killed in the accident.
Accident sequence
The aircraft was on the flight from Honolulu to Maui when a fire broke out in engine No. 2 (right). Because the pilots activated the CO2 engine fire extinguishing system only late, the fire was able to breach the firewall and spread to the main spar. When the aircraft was on final approach to Kahului Airport and the pilots extended the landing gear, the engine tore off as a result of the fire-related structural weakening and the wing failed. The aircraft crashed to the ground and burned out. Both occupants were killed.
Accident investigation
The accident investigation found that damage had occurred to cylinder No. 8 of the right engine. This had led to hydraulic fluid spreading in the engine and igniting explosively on contact with the hot components of the engine.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall der Trans-Air Hawaii bei Maui 1949” (revision 251249475, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Flugunfall der Trans-Air Hawaii bei Maui 1949
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 251249475 · 2024-12-14 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q113579156
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- de Wikipedia article "Flugunfall der Trans-Air Hawaii bei Maui 1949" (page 12342509, revision 251249475), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): A Trans-Air Hawaii C-46 on a domestic cargo flight: an air carrier cargo flight. The article: "a Curtiss C-46F-1-CU of Trans-Air Hawaii, operating a domestic cargo flight from Honolulu to Kahului"
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.