honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, March 12, 2002

Aloha passengers feel fear, pray as cabin pressure fails

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui Bureau

KAHULUI, Maui — Norma Losano will never forget the sounds aboard Aloha Airlines Flight 66, the Boeing 737 that lost cabin pressure Sunday and limped into Kahului Airport, sending 20 to the hospital with severe head and ear pain.

"You could hear the babies scream,'' she said yesterday. "It was terrible.''

Federal Aviation Administration officials yesterday identified the cause of the problem: a malfunctioning valve that controls cabin pressure.

The flight, which left Honolulu International Airport about 6:25 p.m., was over Lana'i when the cabin pressure began to fluctuate and the pilot could not control it, said Stu Glauberman, spokesman for Aloha Airlines. The pilot declared an emergency and descended from 14,000 feet to 5,000 feet.

The plane, with 118 passengers and five crew on board, landed safely in Kahului shortly after 7 p.m., he said.

About 20 passengers were treated at Maui Memorial Medical Center for earaches, headaches and hearing problems. Most got there on their own, but three flight attendants and four passengers had to be transported by ambulance.

The flight left Losano, her husband Fred and their four girls with various ailments including blown ear drums, ruptured ear vessels, bloodshot eyes and headaches.

Losano, a Baldwin High School cafeteria worker, went to work yesterday morning but was sent home at midday with a severe headache. Although the family was seen at the hospital emergency room Sunday, she took the girls to see their private physician yesterday afternoon.

She recalled that although the pilot announced there was nothing to worry about, her gut feeling was they were going to die. "I never rode in an airplane like that before. I told my girls to pray.''

But she knew it could have been much worse. "I am just so grateful to be alive,'' she said.

Pete Beckner, manager of the FAA's flight standards office in Honolulu, said inspectors had planned to examine the plane, which was flown back to Honolulu. The control valve that failed functions automatically and usually is quite reliable, he said.

Meanwhile, an airline official said the aircraft was repaired and back in service yesterday.