HILO — Passengers diverted to Hilo on Friday morning when smoke was briefly detected in the cabin of their Hawaiian Airlines flight from Sacramento, Calif., to Honolulu were unanimous in their praise of the flight crew’s handling of the potential emergency.
“The crew were excellent,” said Holly Shipman of Sacramento, who was aboard Hawaiian Airlines Flight 19. “I cannot say enough about how good they were about checking everything out, climbing up, checking above the baggage compartments, smelling the vents. They were great. They remained calm and no problem.”
Hawaiian Airlines spokesman Alex Da Silva said the Boeing 767-300 had 218 passengers aboard and nine crew members. Da Silva said in an email the flight was diverted to Hilo “after crew members noticed an odor of smoke in the cabin.”
“The odor was dissipating after crews turned off a fan that circulates air in the cabin; however, the captain elected to proceed to (Hilo International Airport) as a precaution. The aircraft arrived in Hilo at 9:30 a.m.,” he said.
“To me, it smelled like cigarettes,” said Tom Shipman, Holly Shipman’s husband. He added, “The flight crew was excellent.”
Da Silva said late Friday morning ground crews were checking out the craft’s airworthiness. By mid-afternoon, passengers bound for other Neighbor Island destinations were flying there from Hilo, he said.
Flight 19 took off from Hilo at 3:47 p.m. and arrived in Honolulu at 4:25 p.m.
Kathleen Sanders of Fair Oaks, Calif., a Sacramento suburb, had to wait a few extra hours for a reunion with her granddaughter, a Stanford University ethnomusicology doctorate candidate in Honolulu. Sanders also thought the flight “was handled in an excellent manner.”
“The crew went up and down the aisle more than once checking all the baggage compartments and were very calm in addressing the passengers. But that’s been my experience with Hawaiian Airlines for years,” Sanders said.
For Hawaiian Paradise Park resident Dana Jones, the diversion meant she didn’t have to catch a connecting flight home in Honolulu.
“I’m here two hours early. My ride’s not, but I am. My sister’s coming,” Jones said. “I got a direct flight. I’m happy.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.