11 People were injured in the turbulence that rocked a Hawaiian Airlines flight on its way from Phoenix to Honolulu
HONOLULU — Severe turbulence rocked a flight from Phoenix to Honolulu Sunday, seriously injuring 11 people in what an Hawaiian Airlines official called an isolated and unusual event.
Jon Snook, the airline’s chief operating officer, said the airline hasn’t experienced “an incident of this nature in recent history.” The plane was full with almost 300 people, and 10 crew members, he said.
There were 36 people who received treatment, the director of Honolulu Emergency Medical Services said. He said 20 people were taken to hospitals, including 11 people deemed to be in serious condition.
We are happy and fortunate that there were no deaths or critical injuries. “We’re very hopeful that everyone will recover and make a full recovery,” Ireland said.
Passenger Kaylee Reyes told Hawaii News Now that her mother had just sat down when the turbulence hit and did not have a chance to buckle her safety belt.
There was some damage to the plane during the turbulence. The seatbelt sign was on at the time, but some of the injured weren’t wearing their seatbelts.
The weather service had issued a weather advisory for thunderstorms that included Oahu and areas that would have been part of the flight path at the time of the incident.
The turbulence was in a patch of air that had no warning from the weather forecast or the unstable air and weather conditions.
He didn’t know how much altitude the plane lost during the turbulence, saying that would be part of an investigation involving the National Transportation Safety Board. The plane’s flight data recorder would provide those details, he said.
The Airbus A330-200 began its descent immediately after the turbulence and crew declared an emergency due to the number of injuries on board, he said. Air traffic controllers gave the flight priority to land.
Dana Hyde died in a Business Jet During a Turbulence-Ntsb Tip-Isothermal Flight
He said the investigation will look at what other measures were taken to make sure passengers were buckled in.
A passenger who served in two presidential administrations was killed when a business jet encountered turbulence and some other rough terrain.
Last year, the Federal Aviation Administration instructed pilots flying the same model of Bombardier aircraft to take extra pre-flight measures after trim problems had been reported.
Investigators will have more information after they’ve analyzed the flight data recorder, cockpit voice recorder and other information, such as weather at the time, the NTSB said.
The Bombardier executive jet was traveling from Keene, New Hampshire, to Leesburg, Virginia, before diverting to Bradley International Airport in Connecticut. Three passengers and two crew members were aboard.
The person who died, identified as 55-year-old Dana Hyde of Cabin John, Maryland, was brought to a hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, where she was later pronounced dead, Connecticut State Police said Monday. The chief medical examiner’s office found that she died from blunt-force injuries.
The jet’s owner, Conexon, based in Kansas City, Missouri, confirmed in an email that Hyde was the wife of a company partner, Jonathan Chambers, who was also on the plane with his son. The company said neither father nor son were injured.
Hyde served as counsel for the 9/11 Commission, formally known as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, and other posts during a career in Washington, D.C., according to her LinkedIn page.
She was a special assistant for cabinet affairs, a special assistant to the deputy U.S. attorney general and an associate director at the Office of Management and Budget during President Bill Clinton’s administration.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/03/07/1161627652/dana-hyde-death-business-jet-turbulence-ntsb-trim-issues
FAA Action on the Bombardier BD100-1A10 In-Flight Problem after a Pilot Turned Down by an Aircraft Stabilizer
The FAA issued its air directive last year after multiple instances in which the horizontal stabilizer on the Bombardier BD-100-1A10 caused the nose of the plane to turn down after the pilot tried to make the aircraft climb.
The directive, which applied to an estimated 678 aircraft registered in the U.S., called for expanded pre-flight checks of pitch trim and revised cockpit procedures for pilots to be used under certain circumstances.
Bombardier, the Canadian manufacturer of the jet, said in a statement that it cannot comment on the potential cause of the in-flight problem but extended its “deepest sympathies to all those affected by this accident.”
“We stand behind our aircraft, which are designed to be robust and reliable in accordance with Transport Canada and all international airworthiness standards,” the company said.