Jet Spews Engine Parts Over Hawaii
A Hawaiian Airlines DC-9 with 117 passengers on board lost part of an engine shortly after takeoff Friday, and falling pieces of metal shattered windshields and pierced the roofs of cars parked below, authorities said.
No injuries were reported, and the twin-engine plane returned safely to Honolulu International Airport, where the passengers transferred to a different aircraft and resumed their flight, spokesman Keoni Wagner said.
Tony Robella, security manager for Matson Navigation Co., located in an industrial area two miles east of the airport, reported that several pieces of debris fell over several hundred yards of the company’s parking lot.
At least 10 vehicles suffered damage, including broken windshields and pierced roofs, Robella said. The 2 1/2-foot-long exhaust cone punched a 3-inch hole in the asphalt, he said.
The right rear engine suffered a “catastrophic engine failure” when the plane was 1,000 feet in the air, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman George Harvey said.
Initial reports indicated one of the turbines in the engine failed and was expelled from the engine along with the trailing exhaust cone, he said.
The airline and the FAA are investigating, Wagner said.
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