Late on Sunday, Hawaiian Airlines Flight 383 from Honolulu to Kauai was forced to return to Honolulu due to mechanical problems. Beat of Hawaii friends onboard that flight alerted us to the situation.
Flight 383 departed Honolulu on time at 5:25 PM. Immediately after take-off, however, something went wrong. As seen in the image above, courtesy of FlightAware, the Boeing 717-200 plane circled back to Honolulu, where it landed safely at 5:58 PM. It was a scary 30 minutes for the passengers who knew early on that something was very wrong. The aircraft never climbed beyond 3,000 feet on its brief flight, nor did its speed exceed 230 kts. Normally, it would climb to about 15,000 feet and operate at about 400 kts. on the flight.
The aircraft involved has a registration number of N494HA. The plane first started flying at Hawaiian Airlines in November 2004 and thus will be twenty years old next year. We estimate it may have amassed as many as 100,000 cycles (take-offs and landings).
A friend onboard Hawaiian 383 reports what happened.
She said that as the flight took off, the plane shook violently and made a loud and unusual noise. Once the aircraft was airborne, they reported that the plane never picked up speed normally and instead flew slowly straight out from the island, not making the right turn that would typically be associated with continuing the flight to Kauai.
They reported a heavy silence in the plane before the pilot announced that the flight was returning to Honolulu Airport. When the plane landed at HNL, it was met with Fire Department equipment lining the runway.
We are awaiting information as to the cause of the mechanical diversion.
Prior Hawaiian Air mechanical diversion happened in February.
That was the Honolulu to Phoenix flight on Hawaiian with 288 passengers and crew onboard. According to the FAA, it diverted due to smoke in the cabin that occurred mid-Pacific, approximately three hours into the flight. The plane landed instead at San Francisco Airport.
The crew turned off a malfunctioning fan, after which the smoke dissipated. Nonetheless, the captain declared an emergency and diverted to the nearest airport, where it landed using a downgraded urgent status.
Fire trucks, ambulances, and rescue personnel met the plane on landing.
Seventeen Hawaii flight diversions caused elevated concerns.
Late last year, we reported Flight Control Failure Causes the Latest of 14 Recent Hawaii Diversions. Soon after, you’ll recall another event that resulted in a Maui Flight Cabin Crew being Incapacitated Causing Diversion. That was because of a fume event. In December, Hawaiian had another mechanical diversion.
It hasn’t been a good week for Hawaiian Airlines, as they are still recovering from a technology meltdown that delayed more than 830 flights since Wednesday. Read more about that Hawaiian Airlines debacle which resulted from a major software upgrade.
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congratulations on reporting on a mishap with Hawaiian Airlines without mentioning Southwest. You folks need to be that objective all of the time. (see BOH recent report on HA terrible reservations system upgrade)
Ah it’s q Boeing….
No wonder…
People still fly on those Killing machines?
I was going to say: Flying killing machines.. But they barely fly. hahaha
I was on 383 we lost lift after takeoff the event was terrifying we didn’t know what was going on there was a very loud metal clanking noise coming from the rear of the plane I assumed it was a bad landing gear but would rather it b a bad engine as it was. Lots of praying and comforting going on and texting loved ones I hope to never experience this ever again.🙏
Sounds frightening!
The killing machines are the MAX aircraft. The 717 is a reliable aircraft.
The “Boeing” 717 is hardly a Boeing BCA product. It had it’s roots and production in the former McDonnell Douglas aerospace company — Not in the Boeing Company.
In point of fact, the last “B-717” to roll off the production line was manufactured at the former McD Long Beach facility in Southern California (post Boeing/McD merger) . The 156th and final 717 rolled off that assembly line in April 2006 — Boeing and McD merged in 2007. So it had little to do w/ the Boeing Co. you choose bash, save for the name.
I have flown many Boeing, Douglas, and McDonnell Douglas aircraft, both in the military and commercial airlines. Without exception, they are all quality products and second to none.
Q.E.D.
FAA should be looking into Hawaiian Air maintenance. Check aircraft maintenance squawks from last year to now. Inflight incidents? how many? There might be a trend here, after all, it didn’t start happening over night. Just saying
I worry about Who and Where maintenance on ALL aircraft is taking place. Do these folks have English as their First language – or at least have guidance/instruction materials in their language? What about adequate supervision? Cost cutting should stop when lives are put at risk. All of these ‘small’ incidents are bound to turn into at least One Big Catastrphe one of these days. This has turned me into a ‘Nervous Nelly’ flyer. Never was before … but, I am now. :0(
If the FAA should look into any airline, its southwest
Thanks for the article. I’m am a bit confused at this being published as an article relating to Hawaiian Air, but you’ve included stories from an Alaskan Air incident. It seems misleading.
Hi John.
Alaska is not even mentioned in the article.
Aloha.
Best guess having flown over 25K hours and prior to retirement based out of HNL with a major air carrier.
Bird strike/ingestion into the engine followed by an engine compressor stall …
Or an engine just failed. Had both happen to me more than once. Unplanned things happen in aviation which is why we have trained, competent crews flying from point A to point B.
agree. sounds like internal engine failure, Consider it was roll out when lots of strain where engine probs arise. Just glad senior pilots have the experience and knowledge to over come these situations.
It was a tough week for Hawaiian and Alaska Airline as well as all of us travelers too. On Saturday, flight HA 3 from LAX to HNL was delayed 13 hours. We don’t know the reasons behind the delay other than they brought in another aircraft. Last Saturday April 15, on Alaska Airlines flight 1412 turned around over Mexico and returned to LAX due to a hydraulic problem. A new flight was scheduled the next day. An “atta-person” for Alaska Airlines is that they did delay flight 1331 from Costa Rica to LAX on April 21 due to a police strike blocking access for people to get to the airport! First time we had 3 major incidents during our travels!
$20 it was a compressor stall