10 hours Ago By Jake Hardiman
A recent Hawaiian Airlines flight from Honolulu to Tokyo took an eventful turn just before landing when a passenger's phone caught fire onboard. Luckily, the situation was able to be quickly contained by the flight's crew, whose swift actions meant that the aircraft in question was able to land safely with no need for an evacuation. Still, the incident did result in the return flight being delayed by several hours.
While no harm came to the aircraft or anyone on it as a result of this incident, it is emblematic of a worrying recent trend that has seen the number of onboard fires caused by thermal runaways in phone batteries (or similar devices) in the last few years. This has become something of a hot topic (pardon the pun) among aviation regulators of late, with some already having changed their rules as a result. The Fire Broke Out Just Before Landing Hawaiian flight HA457 is a regularly scheduled international flight that originates at the carrier's main hub: Honolulu International Airport (HNL).
Its destination is Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND) in Japan, with Flightradar24 showing that it has a scheduled duration of eight hours and 50 minutes. After departing Honolulu at 15:35, it crosses the International Date Line and reaches Tokyo at 19:25 the next day. The flight operates daily, and the iteration leaving on April 27th took off more or less on schedule, at 15:44.
Its arrival into Tokyo was even more punctual, landing 43 minutes early at 18:42 the next day after just eight hours and eight minutes in the air. However, this landing was not without its drama, with The Aviation Herald noting that, during the descent, a passenger's phone caught fire in the cabin. According to reporting by The Mirror , a spokesperson for Hawaiian Airlines confirmed that: "Prior to HA457 arriving at Haneda Airport [on] April 28th, crew members reported an electrical smell coming from a guest's mobile device that became lodged in a seat.
Out of an abundance of caution, our crewmembers declared an emergency to obtain priority handling at the airport." The Incident Delayed The Return Flight According to the Aviation Safety Network , the flight in question had 140 people onboard, and was operated by a 2015-built Airbus A330-200 twinjet that bears the registration N375HA. Thankfully, the members of the flight's crew succeeded in extinguishing the fire, with the device subsequently being placed in a fireproof bag in order to ensure the safety of those onboard in the event of a flare-up.
According to The Aviation Herald, the flight then made a safe landing on runway 34R at Tokyo Haneda Airport . At the time of the incident, runways 22 and 23 at the facility were being used to handle arriving traffic, but, with the flight's crew having declared an emergency and asked for priority handling, this offered a simpler and more direct approach to get the plane on the ground quicker. As noted in the table below, the work to secure the cabin after the landing delayed the return flight.
HA458 Departure from Tokyo Haneda Airport Arrival at Honolulu International Airport Planned 21:20 09:35 Actual 23:42 11:46 Fire and medical personnel at the gate met the flight, and they were available for assistance as passengers and crew deplaned. Hawaiian Airlines Experienced A Similar Incident Last Year Last September, a similar issue arose onboard a Hawaiian Airbus A330-200 that was flying from Honolulu to Portland International Airport (PDX) in the US federal state of Oregon. This time, the offending item was an iPad rather than a phone, but, in a striking parallel, the device began emitting smoke just before landing .
While the fire was, again, able to be contained, and the plane touched down safely, passengers criticized the airline's lack of preparedness in dealing with the situation. At the start of the year, the subject of lithium-ion batteries in mobile phones and tablets causing fires onboard commercial aircraft was thrust firmly into the spotlight after an Air Busan Airbus A321 was destroyed in a ground fire by such an incident. While everyone onboard was safely evacuated, the scenes prompted swift action, with airlines and regulators updating their policies as a result.
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