Posted on: Tuesday, August 5, 2003

Smoke smell in cockpit sends plane back to Maui

Advertiser Staff

A United Airlines flight from Kahului to San Francisco was forced to turn back shortly after takeoff Sunday night when smoke was detected in the plane's cockpit.

Flight 802 took off at about 11:20 p.m., but the crew detected a "faint smell" 20 minutes into the flight and decided to return to Maui, said United spokesman Rich Nelson.

The plane landed safely and there were no injuries, Nelson said. Many of the 145 passengers were placed on other flights, but a few stayed an extra day and left on a special flight last night, he said.

Nelson said the problem was traced to an engine, and that the cause was under investigation.