The owner of every aircraft which is operated over the lands or waters of the State is presumed liable, except the owner of every aircraft operated for commercial use is absolutely liable, for injuries to persons or property on the land or water beneath caused by the ascent, descent, or flight of the aircraft, or the dropping or falling of any object therefrom, whether the owner was negligent or not, unless the injury is caused in whole or in part by the negligence of the person injured, or of the owner or bailee of the property injured. If the aircraft is leased at the time of the injury to person or property, both owner and lessee shall be liable, and they may be sued jointly, or either or both of them may be sued separately. An aeronaut who is not the owner or lessee shall be liable only for the consequences of the aeronaut's own negligence. The injured person, or owner or bailee of injured property, shall have a lien on the aircraft causing the injury to the extent of the damage caused by the aircraft or objects falling from it.
Haw. Rev. Stat. § 263-5
Damage on land
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case 109 Wash. 2d 581 - Crosby v. Cox Aircraft Company (1987)
Most recently applied in 283 F. Supp. 2d 1144 - Employers Ins. of Wausau v. PRICE AIRCRAFT CO. (September 2003)
L 1923, c 109, §5; RL 1925, §3895; RL 1935, §6979; RL 1945, §4925; RL 1955, §16-5; HRS §263-5; gen ch 1985; am L 1987, c 326, §1
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Hawaii State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Hawaii statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.