An airplane carrying 334 passengers landed safely with only one engine at 10:40 a.m. Thursday at Kona International Airport.
United Flight 641, with service from Los Angeles to Honolulu, was diverted to Kona after the captain declared an emergency because of “engine trouble,” said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor.
Passengers described a mix of emotions in the cabin, from fear to indifference.
The aircraft was operating with a crew of three pilots and eight flight attendants, said Karen May, United Airlines public relations manager.
Once the aircraft landed safely, the passengers deplaned on the runway and went to the terminal.
“We are chartering an aircraft to take many of the customers to Honolulu and will accommodate the remaining customers on other flights,” May said.
There was also a rush to get customers on a flight to Guam, some of them service members.
The 777 is a two-engine aircraft, although it has redundancies to make single-engine flights possible.
During the flight, the aircraft would have required repeated adjustments to remain on a straight course. The shut down engine would not long be providing thrust, instead it would act like a parachute. To compensate, the rudder, the control surface on the vertical part of the tail, would have been deflected to help in straightforward travel.
May said crews are investigating the engine to determine what went wrong and to make any repairs.
“The flight landed safely, and we are providing our customers food and beverages and working to accommodate them to their final destinations. We apologize for this inconvenience and will offer customers additional compensation,” May wrote.