Flight on Maui canceled after white powder found
By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
American Airlines grounded a 757 jet plane on Maui late Saturday, after a flight attendant discovered a white powdery substance aboard when it arrived from San Jose.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
The airline canceled a return flight scheduled for 11:56 p.m., and put up more than 100 passengers overnight at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort at Ka'anapali.
Hula Bowl players Howard Duncan, Jeff Ferguson and Bary Holleyman lounge at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort after their flight to the Mainland was canceled.
University of Oklahoma football kicker Jeff Ferguson, one of about 20 Hula Bowl players booked on the flight to the Mainland, said gate agents reported the powder had been found near a baby bottle, and that it probably was baby powder or formula.
"But they said they had to do an anthrax test and that it would take a day," so the flight to San Jose was canceled.
"This whole (terrorism) thing has got everyone paranoid," Ferguson said.
State Health Director Bruce Anderson was waiting for test results but said last night that all available evidence indicated that the substance was baby powder or some other harmless substance.
American could not be reached for comment.
Passenger Lou Chapman of Fort Worth, Texas, said he called his office and said "the bad news is we won't be back to work until Monday afternoon. The good news is we are stuck on Maui."
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
A sample of the material was removed by the Maui Fire Department's hazardous materials team, and taken to a state Health Department storage area, said Capt. Gordon Cordeiro, acting assistant fire chief.
An American Airlines 757 remained on the ground yesterday after a white powder was found on the plane.
The sample was being brought to O'ahu for testing yesterday evening.
Anderson said his staff asked American to try to find passengers seated where the powder was found, so they could be asked about it. He said it will take 24 hours to see if the powder is anthrax, Anderson's deputy Loretta Fuddy said yesterday.
American moved the aircraft to the hazardous materials section of the airport, State Department of Transportation spokeswoman Marilyn Kali said. Anderson said American indicated it was going to wait for test results before flying the aircraft.
The aircraft holds seats for 22 in first class and 154 in coach. Barry Lewin, general manager of the Hyatt Regency resort, said it took about 70 rooms to house the unexpected guests, typically at two per room.
Chad Cole of Arlington, Texas, here with his wife for a business meeting, said passengers Saturday night crowded to the terminal windows to watch the fire department arrive.
"A few firefighters went up the ladder and came back out and put on silver hazmat-type suits, about five of them all suited up," Cole said.
The firefighters came out five minutes later, "and it almost gave us a sigh of relief to see two of them had their helmets off," he said. But ten minutes later the airline announced the flight was canceled.
"Everybody was frustrated, but if this were before Sept. 11, I think you would have heard a lot more grumbling," Cole said.
He said the delay meant his mother-in-law had to take another day off work to baby-sit his children.
"But there's a million worse places to be stranded," he said.
Reach Walter Wright at wwright@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8054.
