The two pilots—the only occupants of the aircraft—became preoccupied with talking to air traffic control and performing other flying tasks, and did not follow proper procedures to positively identify the problem.

The wreckage was located the following week at depths up to 420 feet (130 m) 2 miles (3 km) off Ewa Beach and was subsequently recovered.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) immediately began investigating the accident.

On July 2, 2021, at 1:33 a.m. HST, the aircraft began its take-off from Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) just west of Honolulu on the southern coast of Oahu.

At around 1:42 a.m., after air traffic control (ATC) had cleared the flight to climb to 13,000 feet (4,000 m), the pilots informed Honolulu tower that the aircraft had "lost an engine.

After turning back toward Honolulu, the aircraft continued to lose altitude, so the controller issued a low-altitude alert and asked if they wanted to go to the closer Kalaeloa Airport instead.

In response, the Coast Guard issued a notice to mariners, launched a Eurocopter MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and HC-130 Hercules airplane from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point (co-located at the Kalaeloa Airport), sent out a 45-foot Response Boat – Medium crew, and diverted the cutter Joseph Gerczak.

[9] The Hawaii Department of Transportation’s ARFF boat based at the Honolulu International Airport also responded and took approximately 30 to 40 minutes to get to the scene after navigating through a mile-wide debris field.

[31] The following day, USCGC Joseph Gerczak completed collection of a small amount of incidental flotsam from the debris field to aid in the investigation.

[16] In an initial statement, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said, "The pilots had reported engine trouble and were attempting to return to Honolulu when they were forced to land the aircraft in the water ...

[34] A company representative declined to comment because they were a party to the ongoing NTSB investigation, but a former FAA Chief Counsel published critical commentary on the reporting, cautioning against drawing premature conclusions from potentially unrelated historical enforcement actions.

Team specialties included air traffic control, systems, maintenance records, human performance, operations, powerplants, and wreckage recovery.

"[42] NTSB met with the parties to the investigation the following day, and said it would use side-scan sonar to locate and evaluate the wreckage prior to attempting to recover the "black box" flight recorders.

By the end of the following week, the on-site "go-team" had completed collection of the perishable evidence, including interviews of more than a dozen key personnel, and returned home, but the flight recorders remained with the wreckage at the bottom of the sea.

[46] On May 25, 2022, citing numerous safety violations, including 33 flights undertaken with engines that were not airworthy, the FAA revoked Rhoades' air operator's certificate.

remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) owned and operated by subsea recovery specialists Eclipse Group Inc. was used to raise the engines and rig each fuselage section for hoisting to the surface by a derrick barge Salta Verde equipped with a crane working under contract to Eclipse Group Inc.[52] The recovery is somewhat unusual in that the aircraft did not break up into small pieces during the accident.

[23] NTSB believes distraction with communicating the emergency to ATC caused the captain to have a delayed call for the start of the Engine Failure or Shutdown checklist.

[57] This article incorporates public domain material from Coast Guard, partners rescue 2 people from downed aircraft off Oahu.