Company was told to stop skydiving before fatal crash; now ordered to vacate

HONOLULU (KHON2) — The company in charge of the airplane that crashed in Mokuleia last month, killing 11 people, had been ordered to stop its skydiving operation well before the fatal crash. The company was given a cease and desist order from the state Department of Transportation earlier this spring and today has been told to leave. We found out there may be Labor Department issues, too, that could make it difficult for families to collect what is owed when workers die on the job.

Sources tell Always Investigating that Oahu Parachute Center has been given a five-day notice to vacate its Dillingham Airfield facility. The plane that crashed in June shortly after takeoff was Oahu Parachute Center’s only aircraft, leased from a mainland owner, and they have not resumed operations since the accident.

Now we’ve learned Oahu Parachute Center was supposed to have stopped skydiving long before the crash, after the state D.O.T. the company a cease and desist notice in April over business and aircraft registration issues. The suspension date was May 15, more than a month before the accident.

The owner, George Rivera, has not responded to our requests for comment about this. The D.O.T. is tightlipped, too, declining to comment despite Always Investigating asking repeatedly for weeks about what kind of lease, insurance and permissions to operate the company had in place. No publicly available state-approved permit or lease could be readily located, while similar agreements can be found for other similar airport permittees.

Read more: https://www.khon2.com/news/company-was-told-to-stop-skydiving-before-fatal-crash-now-ordered-to-vacate/