In a shocking incident of negligence, the lives of several passengers aboard an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Hawaii were put at risk after the airline used a wrong plane for the trip.
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“Once we realized what occurred, we instantly notified the FAA and commenced a radical assessment of our procedures”, American spokesman Casey Norton says to Right now within the Sky.
On August 31, the Federal Aviation Administration and American Airlines made a risky decision to let AA Flight 31 reach the destination after “someone on the ground” realized the unprecedented situation.
The correct plane for that flight should have been an A321H, which entered American’s fleet last month.
The certification, which is based on the assumption that one of the aircraft’s engines would be inoperative, also calls for planes to be equipped with extra oxygen and a fire suppression canister.
‘We also have an ongoing, thorough review of our policies and procedures’.
“All (extended operation) related equipment must be certified and be operational before a plane is cleared to fly”.
He added that the airline had made some “changes to software systems” following the incident.
“American’s A321S flies over water commonly for a lot of missions, however is just not ETOPS-certified, which is required by the FAA for American’s Hawaiian flights,”. The only inconvenience was to the folks in Hawaii who had booked that plane for their flight to Los Angles because that flight was canceled.
American’s mistake centered not on whether the Airbus A321 had the range to fly from California to Hawaii – it is able to do so – but rather on whether it was properly certified.
“The flight took off and landed safely”, he said.
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Speaking to the Washington Post Summers said the mistake was “really rare”.
