A big scare for hundreds of passengers today on board a UAL Hawaii flight bound for Oahu ended safely. The FAA reported that United Flight 61, en route to Honolulu, was on its takeoff roll when an issue still unclear caused the plane to abort takeoff. Luckily the incident was handled quickly and effectively, prior to the aircraft reach the speed beyond which takeoff can no longer be aborted.
FAA spokesperson said “United flight 61 bound for Honolulu aborted its takeoff from Runway 4 just before 9 a.m.”
The pilot of the Boeing 767-300 indicated there had been a cockpit alert to a possible mechanical issue. Initially there were reports of the cause being braking issues. Later however, the pilot reported “hot brakes” were a result of the quick stop and weren’t the issue requiring that they abort takeoff. Firefighters were dispatched to cool the brakes. Passengers then deplaned via stairs and the plane was towed to maintenance. The flight on a new aircraft is now en route, expected to arrive Honolulu at 2:40pm.
There were no injuries reported.
As you know this comes at a time when United Airlines Hawaii flights are on the resurgence. The company recently announced they will soon fly 40 times a day to Hawaii, making them the carrier with the most flights from the US mainland.
We’ve never personally experienced an abort takeoff. Jeff has had one foam landing with a collapsed landing gear. Airports sometimes foam runways prior to a possible crash landing. That was enough.
Image credit: flightaware.com
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Many years ago, on the first leg of a return from Hawaii, we had an early morning landing at LAX that was aborted twice but landed safely the third time.
I was listening to the air to ground channel on the plane’s audio system and the first two attempted landings were aborted because the pilot saw an indicator that brake pressure fell below minimum to safely bring the plane to a halt upon landing. Each time the indicator came on 2-3 minutes after he had lowered the landing gear.
On the third attempt to land, the tower asked the pilot if he wished to “declare”, however he declined stating that he believed that he had the situation figured out.
What he did was to NOT lower the landing gear until just about 30 seconds before touchdown. He had correctly diagnosed the problem as a slow leak from what I assume was the aeronautical equivalent of a car’s Master Cylinder.
We landed safely, although the runway was lined with emergency vehicles which chased us down the runway. The runway was not foamed.
Each “go around” took over half an hour.
The most amazing part, to me at least, was that during each of the two aborted landings (we were already over the runway each time), hearing the screaming of the engines as the plane accelerated and nosed up in a lumbering fashion, slowly gaining altitude again. BTW, the plane was a wide-body, a 747 if I recall correctly.
Luckily, my wife and the other passengers slept through the entire experience.
Runway #4 at what airport??
Glad it all worked out for Everyone!….We fly Hawaiian Airlines exclusively….Very Friendly and have never had an issue!
Hi guys,
A friend recently told me about your email newsletter. I’m really enjoying it. Thanks. Just want to share that I am not at all sure about these United flights. There seem to be a lot of problems. There was a mechanical issue when I flew out of the Big Island in April, resulting in an overnight stay on Oahu. I know that United is pricing its flights competatively, and that is exciting. However, I feel their operations are a bit shaky. There have been many incidents with airplanes and their schedules over the last few months — an Internet search will confirm this. Just wanted to pass this along to you guys as I know that you are very sincere in advising Hawaii bound travelers- ohana!
Thanks again for all you do! It is much appreciated!
Thanks Leslie.
Aloha.
I think it should be “The plane was towed” instead of “toed”. 😊 Thank you for the report.. glad all are okay!
Thanks BB!
Aloha.
Glad everybody’s OK! That foam landing must have been scary for Jeff!
I experienced wind shear once on an approach to LAX. The plane started
shaking and suddenly dropped. I was 100 % sure I was going to die!
I miss Hawaii a lot! <3
Hi Nadege.
Always good to hear from you and hope you’ll be here again soon.
Aloha.
I had a rejected take off on UA724 HNL-SFO a few years ago due to wind sheer. Once we came to a stop, the captain explained that we could not move until the tires were cool enough or they would rupture. HFD came to the Coral Runway and tested the temp every 15 minutes. The tires had to give a safe heat rating two times before the plane could go back to the gate. It was all professionally handled. The Captain stayed in the cabin with the passengers answering any and all questions. After we were back at the gate, anyone who wanted to take another flight could. We were delayed a few hours, but took off in the same plane and had no further issue.
*** REEF runway as opposed to coral runway
While aborted takeoffs are rare, it is much better that the plane remain on the ground rather that take off with a potentially serious mechanical issue. Many aborted takeoffs never make the news — so let’s be careful in terms of reporting these.