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On Friday, two pilots told air traffic controllers that their engines had stalled and they needed help before the cargo plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.
“It doesn’t look great here,” one of the pilots said before the Boeing 737 broke up when it entered the water.
The only two pilots on the plane were seriously injured but survived the crash. Authorities said that an hour later, rescuers found two people clutching the package and parts of the plane in the water about 46 meters deep a few miles from Oahu.
“One is on the tail, the other holds the package tightly,” Coast Guard Commander Karin Evelyn wrote in an email to the Associated Press. When an agency helicopter approached, “the plane began to sink and put the person’s tail in the water. The crew lifted them safely from the plane. The rescue swimmer then helped another person.”
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement that the pilots of Transair flight 810 reported engine failure and tried to return to Honolulu, but they were forced to land the Boeing 737 in the water.
According to reports, a 737-200 freighter operated by Rhoades Aviation for Transair landed in the waters near Honolulu after an engine failure. The FAA reported that both crew members had been rescued. ADS-B data is available at https://t.co/lsdJ4WlkHy pic.twitter.com/8D71tEQ3wy
“We lost the No. 1 engine and we are heading straight to the airport,” said one of the pilots. “We will need the fire department. We may also lose another engine, which is running very hot. Our speed is very low. It doesn’t look good here.”
The pilot said that they did not carry hazardous materials and had two hours of fuel. They asked the tower to advise the Coast Guard and then asked if there was an airport closer than Honolulu.
After a moment of silence, the controller asked if the pilot was still there. no respond.
“It looks like they fell into the water,” Ta said.
Later, a rescuer on a dispatched Coast Guard helicopter said: “We do have a plane in the water… We are currently overhead [the] Debris field. “
A few minutes later: “We saw zero in the water, two souls.”
Ta replied, “Okay, so you saw two people, two souls?”
“Both souls are in front of you, yes, sir,” the rescuer replied.
The identities of the pilots were not immediately announced, and they were taken to the hospital. According to Hawaii News, officials at the Queen’s Medical Center said a 58-year-old man is in critical condition. According to television reports, another 50-year-old pilot was in serious condition with head injuries and multiple lacerations.
The Coast Guard reported that after the sun rose in the morning, the plane flew over the crash site near Oahu to assess the pollution. The wreckage and fuel remained in the water.
‘Very good safety record’
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The NTSB stated in a tweet that it will send a team of 10 investigators.
This aircraft is a 46-year-old Boeing 737-200, a much earlier 737 version than the Max, and American Airlines no longer uses it for passenger flights. According to Cirium, an aviation data researcher, fewer than 60 737-200s are still flying around the world.
The Boeing 737 first flew in the late 1960s and is the most popular aircraft still in production. Boeing has delivered more than 10,500 aircraft, and there are about 4,000 outstanding orders, almost all of which are for the latest version of the 737 Max.
According to the Aviation Safety Network database, about 200 737 aircraft have been destroyed in crashes over the years, and hundreds of aircraft have been involved in less serious accidents and incidents.
“For jet aircraft that have been in production for a long time and are widely used, 203 hull loss accidents can be considered a very good safety record,” said Harro Ranter, who runs the database.
He said that the accident rate of this aircraft has increased significantly from the initial model to the latest model before the Max.
Boeing said in a statement: “We are aware of reports from Honolulu, Hawaii, and are closely monitoring the situation. We are in contact with the National Transportation Safety Board and are working to gather more information.”
Over the years, some people have survived when landing on the water. The most famous one was the crash of an American Airlines flight on the Hudson River in New York in 2009. All 155 people on board survived.
In 2011, in Gabon, a cargo plane crashed into the water near the runway, and all four people on board survived.
In other cases, some passengers and crew have survived, but some have died, including a hijacked Ethiopian Airlines plane that ran out of fuel and crashed into the Indian Ocean in 1996, and a Tunisian passenger plane crashed into the Indian Ocean. It crashed near the coast of Sicily in 2005, along with an Indonesian aircraft. Passenger plane landing in the river during a thunderstorm in 2002.
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