This archive report was first published on 23 August 2019.
On August 22, 2019, a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Oakland to Honolulu made an emergency landing at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu after the cabin, cargo hold, and cockpit filled with heavy white smoke.
The flight, operated by an Airbus A321neo, landed at about 11:36 a.m. local time, according to data from FlightRadar24.
Seven passengers were taken to the hospital for "smoke-related symptoms."
"We have since determined that a seal failed in the aircraft's left engine, causing oil to leak onto hot parts of the plane's engine and air conditioning pressurization system, resulting in smoke in the cabin," a spokesperson told the local news outlets KGMB and KHNL.
Emergency crews met the plane as soon as it landed, and passengers evacuated on the runway using the plane's emergency slides.
"Scary last 20 minutes of our flight," one passenger said in an Instagram post. "Mahalo Hawaiian Air getting us home safely."
