American Airlines accidentally sends uncertified plane to Hawaii

According to Sumers, who first reported the embarrassing error, the flight continued through to Hawaii before the airline cancelled the return flight and ferried the empty plane back to Los Angeles.

The plane that should have made the trip was an Airbus A321H, which has the same equipment as the Airbus A321S except that it also has the ETOPS certification.

All twin-engined aircrafts that are used to fly long distances over water need something known as an ETOPS (Extended Range Operation with Two-Engine Airplanes) certification.

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“When we realized what happened, we immediately notified the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] and began a thorough review of our procedures.”

Federal Aviation Administration rules require such planes to carry extra oxygen for medical emergencies and an extra canister of fire extinguisher. The wrong plane has similar technical specifications with the certified A321 aircraft, including the safety gears available to passengers and crew.

The incident reportedly happened on August 31, 2015, when American Airlines Flight 31 took off from Los Angeles global Airport and landed safely at Honolulu worldwide Airport.

“We are checking our internal procedures, everything that led up to the departure. We have gone back and made some changes to software systems”.

Flights over large bodies of water that have no suitable alternative landing locations are required by the FAA to have a certification called ETOPS (Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards), but American Airlines’ flight in August did not. “The A321S is provided with 4 slide-rafts (one at every nook of the plane) and one moveable raft along with life vests and seat cushions that may function flotation units”.

‘It’s really rare, ‘ he said.