Pilots land Boeing 737 in ocean near Honolulu. Here’s how they were rescued
According to the audio from the Honolulu airport tower, one of the pilots told the air traffic controller that they are losing one engine and the other will soon go down as well
Two pilots of a Boeing 737-200 cargo plane were forced to make an emergency landing in the ocean near Honolulu in the early hours of Friday after reporting engine trouble, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said, according to media reports. The US Coast Guard (USCG) rescued both the pilots from a debris field after they made the emergency landing at around 1.30am local time. In a statement, the FAA said that the pilots reported an engine glitch soon after starting their 33-minute intra-transport journey from Honolulu to the regional Kahului Airport on the island of Maui.
According to audio from Honolulu's Daniel K Inouye International Airport’s tower, one of the pilots complained of losing “number 1 engine” and that the plane had about “two hours’ worth of fuel,” CNBC reported. The pilot also said that there is a possibility of them losing the other engine as well because “it’s running very hot,” the CNBC report added. Moments later the air traffic controller alerted for low altitude, and the first pilot asked the former to “let the Coast Guard know,” the report further stated.
The USCG stated that after receiving a report from the Honolulu Air Traffic Control regarding the Boeing 737 downing offshore, it sent a helicopter, a cutter, a rescue plane and a 45-foot boat to search for the two pilots. “Once on the scene, the Dolphin crew was able to rescue one of the people on board while the Honolulu Fire Department rescue boat recovered the other,” the USCG statement read.
Both the pilots were in “good condition,” USCG spokesperson Lieutenant Commander Karin Evelyn said in an email, the New York Times reported. They were later sent to a hospital and are now in stable condition, the USCG said in a statement.
Commander Evelyn said that the plane debris remains at the landing site and that the USCG will evaluate the pollution at first light, the New York Times reported.
The Boeing 737-200 was built in 1975 and its size is just over 100 feet in length. The plane can be converted to accommodate up to 100 tourist passengers, as per Boeing’s description of the plane. Jet officials of the downed Boeing in question said that it was not a 737 Max plane, which has been banned globally following two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, CNBC reported.
