The government’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has just announced an investigation into yesterday’s Hawaiian Airlines mass injury incident of 36 people.
On Twitter, NTSB said that a recent safety report examined turbulence-related accidents and identified several safety issues that need to be addressed to improve turbulence avoidance and prevent future injuries.
The Hawaiian Airlines flight yesterday was about one-half hour from landing in Honolulu when it experienced severe turbulence. At least eleven people were taken to the hospital, while three dozen were treated on-scene.
Hawaiian said, “There was no warning of this particular patch of air at that altitude was dangerous. It caught everyone by surprise, which is often the case. There was an incident five years ago with our carrier that had a similar situation where you just don’t know it’s coming.”
While Hawaiian intimated that it was surprising, it wasn’t unprecedented. On the other hand, it’s interesting that NTSB seems to be taking the view that the incident should be further analyzed officially.
Oxygen masks fell from above following turbulence.
As indicated in yesterday’s article, Hawaiian also confirmed the internal damage to the A330 plane. According to them, seatbelt signs were illuminated, but some people injured were not wearing them. As they say, more will be revealed.
Passengers report and Twitter images confirm that oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling during the event. Further details about the incident will be revealed later, including the plane’s altitude, weather, and other conditions, and information in the plane’s data flight recorder. We’ll also learn more about what was happening on the aircraft then, according to Hawaiian.
NTSB Turbulence Report.
SS2101
Aloha guys – just a bit of clarification. The oxygen masks weren’t deployed, they were knocked out of the overhead panel due to the turbulence. The same thing can happen on a hard landing. As you can see, only a few masks had dropped, and there’s no way to only deploy a few. It’s all or nothing and that only happens with a loss of cabin pressure, which didn’t happen in this event. Great job by the crew managing such an event, I hope for a speedy recovery for those injured!
One picture showed damage to the overhead reading lights when a metal water bottle flew up and hit it. What goes up must come down. Hope no one else was injured by the water bottle. Need to re-think about other “projectiles” you may have in front of and around your seat…laptop, iPad, phones…
The feds are doing their job. The NTSB always investigates when injuries occur on a plane as part of any protocol. Trying to imply there is more to this is quite funny in the headline. Secondly, every single person who was hurt was Not wearing their seatbelt and that has been reported in this case on national news. Sad to say, someone will attempt to get money out of Hawaiian Airlines for it.
If that happens? It is all a money grab.
The weather was very poor. I live in Hawaii
and our Airport in Maui even had to close for a while. Hopefully, this matter is handled properly. Hawaiian Air is by far the best airline to and from the mainland.
And I have flown them all.And I am not a HA employee by the way.