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An interisland Hawaiian Airlines flight carrying 89 passengers made an emergency landing on one engine Wednesday at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.
No one was injured on the flight, which left Kailua-Kona at 3:58 p.m. and arrived as scheduled at 5:01 p.m. in Honolulu.
Hawaiian Air spokeswoman Ann Botticelli said Thursday in an email that shortly after reaching cruise altitude, the pilot of Flight HA177 felt a loss of thrust, followed by a vibration. The pilot idled and then shut off fuel to the left engine, she said.
“The plane was passing Lanai at that point, and the pilot began a normal descent” to the airport in Honolulu, Botticelli said. “An emergency was declared to provide landing priority, and the plane landed safely and without further incident. We are still investigating the cause of the vibration.”
Ken Rewick, Hawaiian Air’s vice president of flight operations, told Hawaii News Now that the pilot of the Boeing 717 flew the last 15 minutes with only one engine, but added that the pilots are well trained to handle this type of situation.