L.A. Flight Lands Safely in Hawaii : Unaware, Passengers Watch Movie as Jet’s Engine Fails

A Delta Air Lines jumbo jet out of Los Angeles with 112 people aboard lost power in an engine over the Pacific but landed safely early today after flying 400 miles on its two remaining engines with a military escort, officials said.

The 100 passengers aboard Flight 1563 continued watching a movie during the incident and were unaware that the engine had shut down, Delta spokesman Lew Malin said.

Flight 1563 was on its way from Los Angeles to Honolulu when the pilot declared an emergency 400 miles northeast of Honolulu International Airport, air traffic controller James Miura said. The plane landed safely.

Malin said it will take an inspection of the DC-10’s No. 2 engine, located in the tail, to determine why it conked out during the flight.

A Coast Guard C-130 search-and-rescue plane was dispatched from Barber Point Naval Air Station to intercept and escort the jetliner, Coast Guard spokeswoman Melissa Youngberg said. The C-130 was equipped with survival equipment such as rafts, which would have been dropped if necessary.

Malin said the pilot informed the passengers only after the plane landed and was taxiing to the gate “so they wouldn’t be surprised by the (news) media.”

“There was no vibration in the aircraft to disturb them. They were watching a movie and he said there was no sense to upset them,” Malin said.