Smell of Smoke Forces Jet to Return
A smoky smell in the cockpit of a Hawaiian Airlines DC-10 prompted the crew to bring the jet back to Los Angeles International Airport shortly after takeoff for Honolulu on Thursday, but there was no fire, authorities said.
Flight 1 landed without incident at 9:45 a.m., said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Mitch Barker.
No injuries were reported, said airport spokesman Scott Read.
The three-engine jet took off at 8:55 a.m. carrying 236 passengers. The smoky smell was reported half an hour later, Barker said.
“There was no fire, and by the time it got on the ground there was no smoke,” Barker said. “The [airline] company will look at the plane and report any problems to the FAA. We won’t know what caused this for some time.”
Airline officials suspected the smell stemmed from recent servicing.
“Our current assumption--since the airplane recently came out of maintenance check--is that some residual oil got on part of the air conditioning and burned off at a certain point, creating that acrid smell,” said airline spokesman Keoni Wagner.
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