This Sunday, June 23, 2019, photo released by the National Transportation Safety Board shows NTSB investigator Eliott Simpson briefing NTSB Board Member Jennifer Homendy at the scene of the Hawaii skydiving crash in Oahu, Hawaii. No one aboard survived the crash, which left a small pile of smoky wreckage near the chain link fence surrounding Dillingham Airfield about an hour north of Honolulu. (National Transportation Safety Board via AP)
The Associated Press
HONOLULU (AP) - A man who was involved in a terrifying 2016 skydiving accident on the same plane that crashed and killed 11 people in Hawaii on Friday says he wishes he could have done more to prevent the tragedy.
Achal Asawa told The Associated Press on Monday that the news was extremely upsetting. He was aboard the same plane three years ago when it stalled and went into a spinning nosedive.
He and several other skydivers were able to open the door and jump to safety.
The substantially damaged aircraft was repaired before being sent to Oahu and flown again. Friday's crash was the deadliest civil aviation accident since 2011.
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Associated Press writers Rachel D'Oro in Anchorage, Alaska, and AP Researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.
In this Friday, June 21, 2019 photo, part of the wreckage of a twin-engine Beechcraft King Air plane lies on the ground after a fatal crash near the chain link fence surrounding Dillingham Airfield in Mokuleia, Hawaii, just off Farrington Highway. No one aboard survived the crash of the skydiving plane which killed multiple people. The flight was operated by the Oahu Parachute Center skydiving company. The red ladders in the foreground were used to get access to the crash site over the fence. (Bruce Asato/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP)
The Associated Press
A Beechcraft King Air twin-engine plane crashed Friday evening killing multiple people and leaving wreckage near a chain link fence surrounding Dillingham Airfield seen Saturday, June 22, 2019, in Mokuleia, Hawaii. No one aboard the skydiving plane survived the crash. The flight was operated by the Oahu Parachute Center skydiving company. (Dennis Oda/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP)
The Associated Press
A memorial is seen at the site where a Beechcraft King Air twin-engine plane crashed Friday evening killing multiple people near the chain link fence surrounding Dillingham Airfield in Mokuleia, Hawaii. Police and sheriffs patrol the area. No one aboard survived the skydiving plane crash. The flight was operated by the Oahu Parachute Center skydiving company. (Dennis Oda/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP)
The Associated Press
Brian Raley places large flowers and leaves as part of a memorial at the site where a Beechcraft King Air twin-engine plane crashed killing multiple people Friday evening near the chain link fence surrounding Dillingham Airfield, Saturday, June 22, 2019, in Mokuleia, Hawaii. At left, a good friend of Raley (she didn't want to give her name) and of the people who perished in the plane grieves for them. (Dennis Oda/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP)
The Associated Press
This is the site where a Beechcraft King Air twin-engine plane crashed Friday evening killing multiple people seen on Saturday, June 22, 2019, in Mokuleia, Hawaii. No one aboard survived the skydiving plane crash, which left a small pile of smoky wreckage near the chain link fence surrounding Dillingham Airfield, a one-runway seaside airfield. (Dennis Oda/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP)
The Associated Press