Yesterday, a Hawaiian flight overshot the runway at OGG. The incident must have been a frightening one for all onboard, but reports indicate that no one was injured. The exact cause of the accident is still under investigation.
Hawaiian Airlines is the oldest airline in the U.S. to never have experience a fatality due to an accident. Still, the airline isn’t free of accidents, including one in which a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 overshot the runway at Fa’a’ā International Airport in Papeete, French Polynesia back in December 2000. However, since then, only one other incident was caused by pilot error, which the tail of an Airbus A321neo made contact with the runway during the arrival of HA56 from Kahului. Now, though, there is a potential for a third such incident, as a Hawaiian flight overshot the runway at OGG yesterday.
Hawaiian Flight Overshot the Runway at OGG
The situation is still developing, so we don’t know much yet. What we do know is that a Hawaiian flight overshot the runway at OGG after landing at the airport at 1:23 pm HST. The particular flight in question was HA29 from Seattle, operated by an Airbus A321neo. The specific aircraft involved was N227HA “Olopua.”
Initial statements from the airline attribute the cause of the incident to brake issues. This very well could be the cause, especially since Airbus A320-series aircraft have long-documented issues of brakes overheating quicker than the Boeing 737 – its closest competitor.
At any rate, the aircraft came to a rest at the end of Kahului Runway 2’s stopway/overrun, where it sat for about 30 minutes before it was towed back to the terminal. Overall, the flight arrived at the gate 15 minutes behind schedule thanks to an earlier landing time.
Impacts
Of course, it wasn’t only those that were on the flight that were delayed. Since a Hawaiian flight overshot the runway at OGG, the runway had to be closed, delaying numerous arrivals and departures. How long was the runway closed? For about 40-50 minutes.
Most flights departing and arriving after the Hawaiian flight overshot the runway at OGG saw a delay of around an hour. Heck, the poor folks on UA741 from LAX ended up circling over Maui for about an hour before finally being allowed to land.
However, two flights did have to be diverted. One was AA119 from DFW, which ended up in HNL to wait out the closure, while WN3993 from LAS ended up in LAX. Personally, I rather would have had my flight delayed, even if I had to circle over Maui for an hour, than get diverted. Though, it isn’t every day you get to take a flight on a Boeing 787 from HNL to OGG!
Final Thoughts
Again, I’m sure the incident was frightening to those onboard, especially to those that don’t fly much. However, the incident also highlights how safe air travel really is. It seems like the crew handled the incident well, though Hawaiian is now down one A321neo again as they try to figure out what happened. But, you know, A320s do have more sensitive brakes than many other jets. I nearly got stranded because the brakes on my Virgin America A320 overheated from taxiing around LAS. Mind you, this was in May when temperatures weren’t too crazy, yet.
At any rate, I’m glad no one was injured when a Hawaiian flight overshot the runway at OGG. But, the incident does serve as a reminder, along with all of those turbulence stories we’ve been seeing lately, to always keep your seatbelt on when seated, and to always heed all instructions made by your flight crew.