Aborted flight, flight crew oxygen masks, fast return. Fumes onboard are always concerning on long Hawaii flights without diversion points.
Aborted flight, flight crew oxygen masks, fast return. Fumes onboard are always concerning on long Hawaii flights without diversion points.
Hi BOH:
I track the HA 81/82 flight (HNL to/from AUS) often as much of my family lives in Austin and comes to visit us in Honolulu. Did you happen to notice that HA 81 (AUS-HNL) diverted to PHX yesterday at 11:00 MST and didn’t leave until 1:26 AM MST today, arriving in HNL 4:30 AM HST today? It left me pondering what the diversion could have been for.
Aloha,
Will
Hi Will.
Thanks so much for the tip. We appreciate it.
Aloha.
It would be interesting to know if the fumes were confined to the cockpit, and if not, if the passengers also had access to oxygen masks. I imagine it would be terrifying for the passengers. Maybe somebody on the plane will comment on this thread.
I was on a Hawaiian flight a few years ago, flying back to Honolulu from Oakland, California. We had smoke in our cabin and did not deploy oxygen to us but to crew members. Fear was flames might break out with added oxygen but crew members needed to alert and emergency land the plane. We exited via shoots. A few bumps and bruises. But all in all a successful landing. Seems an oil seal broke and oil leaking on hot brake lines. Fortunately, smoke but no fire.
The crew oxygen system is a completely separate and different system than the passenger oxygen masks that deploy from the overhead passenger service unit. The crew oxygen (think pilot and co-pilot) oxygen is provided by an oxygen cylinder located in an equipment bay underneath the cabin compartment that can contain up to 2000 PSI of aviators oxygen.
The passenger masks that drop from the overhead only produce oxygen via a chemical reaction when the masks are pulled down and a canister in the passenger service unit is activated. In the event of smoke in the cabin, those masks would do nothing which is why the flight crew has the type of oxygen system they have as well as smoke hoods