Hawaii

36 people injured on rough flight from Phoenix to Hawaii

Published

2 years ago

December 19, 2022

36 people injured on rough flight from Phoenix to Hawaii

Dozens of individuals had been injured when a Hawaiian Airways flight from Phoenix to Honolulu hit extreme turbulence Sunday, officers stated.

A complete of 36 folks wanted medical consideration and 11 had been in critical situation after a wobbly flight rocked the cabin and left the airplane’s inside visibly broken, based on the Honolulu Emergency Medical Providers director.

Sufferers suffered cuts, bumps and bruises together with head accidents, whereas some suffered nausea and vomiting as a result of bumpy flight.

Not less than one individual misplaced consciousness, the medical director, Jim Eire, stated.

Three flight attendants had been among the many injured taken to hospitals. There have been 10 crew members onboard and a full cabin of 278 passengers.

Hawaiian Airways COO Jon Snook stated the intense turbulence was an remoted anomaly.

The airline hasn’t seen “an incident of this nature in latest historical past,” he stated.

Not all passengers had been secured of their seats when the airplane bumped into turbulence.

“We’re additionally very glad and we really feel lucky that there have been not any deaths or different essential accidents. And we’re additionally very hopeful that every one will recuperate and make a full restoration,” Eire stated.

The seatbelt signal was on on the time, however not each passenger had theirs fixed.

One passenger, Kaylee Reyes, who was flying together with her mom stated her mother had simply sat down after utilizing the restroom and didn’t have an opportunity to buckle her seat belt when the turbulence first started.

“She flew up and hit the ceiling,” Reyes advised Hawaii Information Now.

A thunderstorm advisory was in impact for areas together with Oahu and the airplane’s flight path on the time of turbulence, based on Thomas Vaughan, a meteorologist on the Honolulu outpost of the Nationwide Climate Service.

Emergency crews at the scene. — Pilots are generally unaware of when they are going to be flying into turbulence.

Snook stated the airline was conscious of the advisory, however the patch of air the place the flight received bumpy didn’t present any warnings of hazard.

The phenomenon might have been an occasion of “clear-air turbulence” that occurs in cirrus clouds or generally clear air close to thunderstorms, fairly than within the storms themselves. The variations in temperature and strain create highly effective currents of fast-moving air, making clear-air turbulence probably the most harmful kind of turbulence.

Pilots can fly straight into clear-air turbulence with out warning.

The flight started its descent instantly after the turbulence and the crew declared an emergency, alerting folks on the bottom that that they had quite a lot of accidents onboard. Air site visitors controllers then cleared the best way for the airplane, giving it precedence to land.

interior of a Hawaiian Airlines plane on its flight from Phoenix to Honolulu, Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022 — Inside of a Hawaiian Airways airplane on its flight from Phoenix to Honolulu, Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022.

Commercial

It’s unclear how a lot altitude the airplane, an Airbus A330-200, misplaced through the turbulence, however the Nationwide Transportation Security Board can be that and extra in an investigation of the incident, Snook stated.

The airplane’s flight information recorder would have the ability to present that element and extra. The board may even examine what passengers and crew had been doing on the time of the disturbance — together with what measures had been taken to make sure passengers had their seatbelts on.

“In case you don’t have your seatbelt on, you keep the place you’re because the plane goes down and that’s how … accidents happen,” Snook stated.

With Put up wires.

Source link

Click to comment

Hawaii

State fines Hawaii American Water for unpermitted discharges | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Published

2 hours ago

January 4, 2025

Press Room

State fines Hawaii American Water for unpermitted discharges | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

COURTESY DOH
Hawaii Department of Health logo.

Hawaii health officials today said they have fined Hawaii American Water $47,750 for discharging effluent exceeding permitted limits of ammonia nitrogen into the ocean.

The state Department of Health has issued a notice of violation and order to the private water company for 14 such discharges from its East Honolulu Wastewater Treatment Plant between August 2022 and 2024.

“Ammonia is derived from the breakdown of proteins and amino acids in wastewater,” said Kathleen Ho, deputy director for the Environmental Health Administration, in a news release. “High concentrations of ammonia can have toxic effects on aquatic organisms and contributes to excess nutrients in the water. As such, the discharge of ammonia above allowable limits into state waters is unacceptable.”

In addition to exceeding limits allowed under its state-issued National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, the Health Department said the company also failed to submit required noncompliance reports on two occasions.

In addition to paying the penalty, the notice requires Hawaii American Water to take corrective actions.

Honolulu-based Hawaii American Water owns and operates the East Honolulu Wastewater Treatment Plant, which serves about 35,000 people, according to the notice. The treated wastewater is released into the ocean via an outfall at Sandy Beach.

DOH said based on state laws, all persons, including business owners, government agencies and visitors must comply with water pollution laws, and that failure to comply may result in penalties of up to $60,000 a day, per violation.

The department said it charged the company for 10 days of exceeding the limits rather than 12 because two were less than 1% over the permitted limit.

Hawaii American Water may request a hearing within 20 days of receiving the notice.

Source link

Hawaii

Will Hawaii Implement a New Tourism Tax This Year? Here’s What To Know

Published

10 hours ago

January 3, 2025

Press Room

Will Hawaii Implement a New Tourism Tax This Year? Here’s What To Know

When Hawaii’s legislative session opens on Jan. 15, one of the first orders of business will be voting on a new fee for incoming tourists.

In a Dec. 31, 2024 memorandum, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green announced plans for “building a climate-resilient Hawaii” which would include a fee for tourists that would help fund the state’s conservation efforts.

“The administration has also been working on proposing the ‘Green Fee” to the legislature. The initiative will require visitors to pay a fee to help fund climate resilience initiatives,” the statement read. “These funds will support efforts to preserve and protect our environment and promote clean energy solutions. As a result, these efforts will help build a more resilient, sustainable Hawaii for our future generations.”

The fee would be in addition to Hawaii’s existing tourism tax — 10.25 percent with an additional 3 percent in some counties.

Initially, Green campaigned on a $50 flat fee for tourists during the 2022 election. A year later, officials proposed establishing a visitor impact fee program which would charge travelers a fee to buy a license to visit a state park, forest, hiking trail, or other state natural area. The initiative fell short and was not passed.

At the start 2024, a bill calling for a “modest fee” for tourists that would generate more than $68 million in revenue each year and increase awareness of the impacts of climate change was introduced. Weeks later, state lawmakers chose not to pass the initiative despite devastating wildfires that ravaged Maui’s western coast mere months prior in August 2023, which resulted in more than 100 deaths and destruction of historic Lāhainā.

Hawaii is far from the only destination imposing a tourism tax. In September 2024, New Zealand nearly tripled the fee for international visitors and on Dec. 1, 2024 the Maldives began a departure tax that ensures travelers contribute to island preservation. The countries join a long list of locales – including Iceland and the Italian city of Venice – using fees to help combat overtourism.

Read the original article on Travel & Leisure

Source link

Hawaii

Fires damage two homes in East Hawaii – West Hawaii Today

Published

20 hours ago

January 3, 2025

Press Room

East Hawaii firefighters were busy with a pair of house fires over the New Year’s holiday.

Nine units answered a 1:47 p.m. alarm Wednesday of a fire at 18 Hokulani Street in Kaumana.

The first unit arrived three minutes later to find the home’s occupants — Owen Matsui and Anna Joaquin Matsui — outside but uninjured.

Heavy smoke and flames were coming from the rear of the structure, according to a Hawaii Fire Department statement. The fire was confined to the back lanai, kitchen and rear bedroom of the single-story, three-bedroom residence.

The fire was reported under control at 2 p.m. and extinguished at 2:20 p.m.

Damage was reported at $498,500, and the cause of the blaze is under investigation.

The alarm for the second fire sounded at 12:03 a.m. Thursday for a house on Mapuana Street in Kalapana Seaview Estates in lower Puna.

Six units responded, with the first arriving at 12:28 a.m. Firefighters found the 1,500-square-foot, single-story wooden-framed residential structure fully engulfed in flames.

Neighbors with garden hoses attempted to keep the fire from spreading to their homes.

Nobody was found at the actual scene of the fire, but according to an HFD statement, neighbors told firefighters that the structure was abandoned but had frequent squatters.

The fire was reported under control at 12:55 a.m. and extinguished at 3:40 a.m.

The loss was estimated at $150,000, and the cause of the fire hasn’t yet been determined.

Source link