Passengers on an American Airlines flight recently had the fright of a life time. The plane almost crashed into the side of a mountain while traveling to Los Angeles from Hawaii.
The flight just narrowly avoided a devastating tragedy, missing the mountain. Right now, authorities are investigating exactly what happened that almost caused the incident.
AA298 left Honolulu International Airport on Wednesday. It had to climb over K?nāhuanui, a mountain in Hawaii. The Airbus A321neo had to avoid the mountain's peak. Air traffic control told the plane it needed to accelerate quickly. You see, the plane wasn't accelerating fast enough. It was only at an altitude of 2,900. Meanwhile, the mountain's peak reaches 3,150 feet.
In just three minutes, the plane accelerated to an altitude of 5,200. The plane managed to turn right and fly over a lower peak. The air traffic controller yelled at the American Airlines pilot, "Turn right and expedite your climb through terrain."
American Airlines Flight
In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration said, "An air traffic controller instructed American Airlines Flight 298 to perform an expedited climb after the crew did not make the assigned turn while departing from Honolulu International Airport. The controller's actions ensured the aircraft remained safely above nearby terrain."
Meanwhile, American Airlines also released a statement about the terrifying incident as well. The organization said, "During the climb out of Honolulu on November 13, the crew of American Airlines flight 298 requested and received right-turn clearance and complied with controller instructions. There was no Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) alert as there were no issues with terrain clearance based on the trajectory of the aircraft."
So what exactly happened? Well Hawaii's Department of Transportation said that it's a pilot error or air traffic controller. The pilot should have banked out to the right immediately after take off. The plane then would have had open access over Honolulu Harbor. Guidance for the plane said that once it was "one mile due south" to then "turn left and resume own navigation."
Hopefully, things like this don't happen again. It's a very scary situation that could have ended tragically.
