KAUNAKAKAI, Hawaii -- A commuter plane with 20 people aboard disappeared while on a flight between the islands of Maui and Molokai Saturday night, according to a transportation official.
Aloha IslandAir flight 1712 left Kahului Airport on the island of Maui for the 47-mile flight at 6:25 p.m. HST, said Marilyn Kali, a state Transportation Department spokeswoman.
The DH-C twin-otter aircraft, carrying 18 passengers and two crewmembers, was scheduled to arrive at Molokai Airport approximately 35 minutes after takeoff, Kali said.
The crew and 14 passengers were from Hawaii, two passengers were from Philadelphia and two were from Houston, the airline said. The identities of those aboard were not released.
'The Federal Aviation Administration has said that it last made (radio) contact with the aircraft in mid-channel between Maui and Molokai,' said Stephanie Ackerman, an Aloha spokeswoman.
The plane's last FAA radar contact was off Cape Halawa on the northeastern tip of Molokai, a Coast Guard spokesman said.
The plane was carrying an emergency beacon but no signal had been reported, Coast Guard officials said. The search was conducted by two Coast Guard HH-65 helicopters, a C-130 aircraft and two cutters.
Search aircraft flew over the 9-mile channel between Maui and Molokai as well as along the north shores of the islands. They also conducted a search that followed the aircraft's intended flight path.
The plane was to fly from Kahului on the north shore of Maui northwest across the Pailolo channel to Cape Halawa, said Ackerman.
The flight was then slated to fly a mile offshore across the north coast of the island to the isolated settlement of Kalauapapa, where it was to turn southwest and fly across the island to the airport.
Coast Guard officials said the plane's flight path could have differed, depending on weather conditions. They said showers had been reported above mountainous Kalaupapa during the evening.
Flights are not tracked on radar past Cape Halawa because of the terrain, Ackerman said.
Molokai police and fire crews began a search of the shoreline and contacted isolated Kalaupapa settlement. Kali said about 80 family members had gathered at Molokai airport waiting for word.
