A plane that crashed in Hawaii, killing 11 people, also had an issue in 2016.

Officials investigating; aircraft had issue in ’16

HONOLULU — A skydiving plane that crashed in Hawaii, killing 11 people, was involved in a terrifying midair incident three years ago in Northern California that prompted the 14 skydivers aboard to jump earlier than planned to safety, according to government investigative records.

The Beechcraft King Air plane crashed and burned on Oahu island’s north shore Friday evening after witnesses said it appeared to turn back shortly after takeoff.

In the July 23, 2016, incident near Byron, California, the twin-engine plane stalled three times and spun repeatedly before the pilot at that time managed to land it safely, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its investigative report. The agency blamed pilot error.

No one aboard survived the Hawaii crash, which left a small pile of smoky wreckage near the chain link fence surrounding Dillingham Airfield, a one-runway seaside airfield.

Steven Tickemyer saw the plane take flight, get 75 to 100 feet off the ground and turn away from the mountain range nearby.

He said the plane started to nosedive, then flipped over belly forward so that it was upside down. The aircraft then flipped over again, and hit the ground nose first. He said there was an explosion when it hit the ground.

Tickemyer told The Associated Press this all happened in about 20 to 30 seconds.

The crash appeared to be the worst U.S. civil aviation accident since a 2011 accident at the Reno Air Show in Nevada that killed the pilot and 10 spectators.

Officials in Hawaii initially reported that nine people had died and that three of them were customers of the skydiving company operating the plane and that six were employees. But the Hawaii Department of Transportation tweeted Saturday that officials later “confirmed there were 11 people on board the plane” and no survivors.

The victims were not identified. The flight was operated by the Oahu Parachute Center skydiving company.

Two Federal Aviation Administration inspectors went to the crash site Friday, and National Transportation Safety Board investigators were expected to arrive Saturday evening.

Bruce Asato The Associated Press Remnants of an aircraft carrying 11 people lie on the ground Friday near a fence that surrounds Dillingham Airfield in Mokuleia, Hawaii. Eleven people on board the twin-engine aircraft died in a crash on Oahu, officials said.