Summary
- Operations at Honolulu International Airport were briefly halted due to a medical emergency in the air traffic control room, impacting up to 70 flights.
- Emergency personnel attended to the situation in the ATC room, resulting in a shutdown that lasted less than an hour.
- Medical emergencies in the air traffic control tower are rare but pose serious safety risks, particularly amid an industry staff shortage.
Operations at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) in Honolulu were briefly halted due to a medical emergency in the air traffic control room. The ground stop lasted almost an hour, impacting up to 70 flights.
Honolulu ATC medical emergency
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), medical personnel attended to an emergency in the air traffic control (ATC) room at HNL on Wednesday afternoon, briefly grounding flights. Around 70 interisland and mainland flights – inbound and outbound – were affected by the shutdown, which was lifted less than an hour after it was issued.
The FAA said in a statement,
“Normal operations have resumed at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport. The FAA briefly paused flights while medical personnel attended to a control room employee.”
No further information has been provided by authorities on the nature of the ATC tower situation. KHON2 reports that medical workers attended to a single ATC employee suffering an unspecified health emergency – federal firefighters were also called to the scene. It isn’t clear exactly why a single medical emergency forced such a widespread shutdown, but ongoing ATC staff shortages may have played a role. Fellow ATC controllers reportedly attended to the incapacitated individual before medical personnel arrived.
According to Shelly Kunishige, spokesperson for the Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT), flights were grounded from 12:25 to 13:09 local time, and the airport has since resumed normal operations. Passengers on evening flights out of the airport were told to check the status of their flights and expect delays.
Scores of flight delays
Many passengers were delayed by the shutdown, which impacted all operations in and out of the airport. Beat of Hawaii reports there were almost 120 flights delayed on Wednesday, higher than the airport’s average of around 50 daily.
Photo: Theodore Trimmer | Shutterstock
California resident Diane Carlson-Biggs told KHON2,
“I was sitting at Maui airport for an hour and a half. They said the airplane was delayed in Honolulu and they will be leaving shortly and it was 20 min, 40 min, an hour and a half.”
Hawaiian Airlines has said that the majority of impacted flights were on its interisland network.
Medical emergencies
While medical emergencies onboard flights are to be expected given just how many flights there are daily, they are less common on the ground. Given the critical nature of an air traffic controller’s job, medical situations in the tower are a serious safety concern.
Photo: Michael Vi | Shutterstock
In one notable incident at Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in 2018, a controller became incapacitated while working alone on a night shift. She was heard slurring her words and misstating aircraft call numbers before becoming unresponsive – fortunately, a colleague on a break was ordered back to the tower and took over.
There have also been rare cases of pilots suffering health problems while on duty – earlier this year, an off-duty pilot from a rival airline helped land a Southwest flight after one of its pilots became incapacitated.
Was your journey at Honolulu International Airport impacted by the shutdown on Wednesday? Let us know in the comments.
Source: KHON2, Beat of Hawaii