Emergency landing made at Midway
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Staff Writer
A Continental Airlines jet with 294 people on board made an emergency landing at Midway Atoll's Sand Island airfield early yesterday, and was to have flown out last night after the replacement of a leaking starter.
The twin-engine Boeing 777 sought out the Midway landing field after its pilots detected an oil pressure problem in one of its engines. A Continental official said the landing was uneventful and there were no injuries.
Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawai'i, said the event is a key example of the need to keep the Midway field operational. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been operating the field month-to-month, and there is no permanent source of revenue to keep it open.
"It's just a no-brainer that this airport must stay open," Case said.
Continental flew maintenance personnel and a new starter to the island during the day yesterday. The flight also brought food and water for the passengers and crew, although there were meals aboard the jet, and the island had recently been resupplied with food.
"The passengers were deplaned, and they can be entertained by a million and a half seabirds," said Barbara Maxfield, speaking for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which operates the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. The weather was sunny with temperatures in the 70s.
She said hundreds of thousands of albatrosses are sitting on eggs, and several other species of seabirds are also in various stages of nesting on Midway at this time of the year.
Maxfield said the sole Fish and Wildlife Service employee on island reported that "they're finding places for folks to rest, letting them call their families, providing tours, and arranging for dinner. Of course the flight had meals on board as well."
Most of the work with the passengers was done by employees of Midway's prime contractor, Chugach McKinley Inc. and its airport subcontractor, American Airports Corp. The companies operate the airport, keep utilities operating and maintain the island's facilities.
The Boeing 777 jet, Continental's Flight 6, was en route from Japan's Narita Airport to Houston's George Bush International Airport, said Julie King, a Continental spokeswoman in Houston. It carried 15 crew and 279 passengers. Late yesterday afternoon, Continental was estimating it would arrive in Houston at 10:30 a.m. today.
Case said that the massive federal Fiscal Year 2004 Omnibus Bill, which includes financing for Midway's airport through the end of the September 2004, has been approved by the House of Representatives. The bill still requires approval by the Senate, which resumes meeting Jan. 20. But even then, it does not provide for secure, long-term financing for the airport.
The field is important for several reasons, he said. The Federal Aviation Administration wants it open to provide an emergency runway for situations like the Continental emergency. The military wants it open for periodic use. The Coast Guard uses it as a staging area for mid-Pacific fisheries patrol flights. And the Fish and Wildlife Service needs an airfield to get people and equipment to and from the wildlife refuge.
"The problem is, for all those years, three of the four don't want to contribute to the cost," leaving the Fish and Wildlife Service to find the money, he said.
Public access to Midway has not been part of the financing discussion. The Fish and Wildlife Service committed itself to providing public access to the atoll's natural and historical resources when it took control of the atoll in the mid-1990s, but there have been no public access programs since the service and contractor Midway Phoenix Corp. parted ways early in 2002.
Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.
