On Monday, December 30, at around 1 p.m. local time, Hawaiian Airlines Flight 21 made a safe return to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport following a crew complaint of smoke in the flight deck.
SEATTLE- On December 30, 2024, a Hawaiian Airlines (HA) aircraft, currently controlled by Alaska Air Group, from Seattle Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) in Honolulu, made a U-turn as soon as it took off due to smoke in the cockpit.
The Honolulu-based airline offers two daily flights between Honolulu and Seattle in addition to five more daily flights that it codeshares with other airlines. It uses a combination of Airbus A321 and A330 aircraft to service this route.
Hawaiian Flight U-Turn to Seattle
Hawaiian Airlines flight HA21 departed Seattle at 8:41 PM UTC (12:41 PM local time), based on data from FlightRadar24.
The aircraft crew noticed smoke in the cockpit just after takeoff. They made the decision to safely return to SEA after informing SeaTac ATC of the situation. At 9:00 PM UTC (1:00 PM local time), it returned to Seattle.
The flight was canceled; it was supposed to land in Honolulu at 12:35 PM local time.
Airbus A330-243 aircraft, registered as N393HA, were used to execute the route. Additionally, the aircraft is 11.6 years old and has Rolls-Royce engines.
There are 260 economy seats and 18 first-class seats aboard the aircraft, for a total of 278 seats. The specifics of the crew and passengers are still unknown, though.
The following preliminary statement has been released by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which has noted the incident on its Aviation Accidents and Incidents page:
Hawaiian Airlines Flight 21 safely returned to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport around 1 p.m. local time on Monday, Dec. 30, after the crew reported smoke in the flight deck. The Airbus A330 was heading to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu.
In addition, the FAA has stated that they will look into the incident to see what caused it and will publish a thorough study in the upcoming months.
Similar Incidents
The number of occurrences involving cockpit smoke is increasing, thus this is not the only one.
After smoke appeared in the cockpit during its Chicago O’Hare (ORD) to Phoenix International Airport (PHX) flight on December 28, 2024, United Airlines (UA) implemented an emergency diversion to Albuquerque International Airport (ABQ).
On November 16, 2024, while flying flight W61771 between Gdansk and Tromso, cabin crew noticed smoke, causing a Wizz Air (W6) aircraft to divert to Stockholm Arlanda Airport. About 30 minutes after its departure from Gdansk at 6:04 PM, the incident happened at 35,000 feet during the cruise phase.
On November 6, 2024, Delta Air Lines (DL) flight DL850 made a precautionary landing at Raleigh-Durham International Airport while traveling from Atlanta to Washington, D.C., because of fumes in the cockpit. Delta management attested that the detour was in accordance with accepted safety procedures.
In 2023, similar incidents occurred in the aviation industry. Four members of the cabin crew were hurt when Spirit Airlines’ (NK) Airbus A320 made an emergency landing in Fort Lauderdale on August 3 while flying from Orlando to Bogota.
A United Airlines Boeing 777 returned to Los Angeles International Airport on July 4 of that year after smoke appeared on the flight deck.