American Airlines: Six people left injured after plane makes hard landing on flight from Los Angeles to Hawaii

Six people have been injured after an American Airlines flight made a hard landing on Saturday (27 January). The plane was landing at Kahului Airport in Hawaii and injured one passenger as well as five flight attendants. 

The six people injured were transported to a hospital and later released. On board the plane were 167 passengers and seven crew members.  

American Airlines told CNN in a statement: “American Airlines flight 271 with service from Los Angeles (LAX) to Maui (OGG) experienced an issue upon landing in OGG. The aircraft taxied to the gate under its own power and customers deplaned normally.”

Data from the flight-tracking website FlightAware shows that American Airlines flight 271 was initially scheduled to arrive at Maui Airport at 12:47 p.m. but was delayed for nearly 79 minutes as it taxied at LAX before taking off. The airline added that the plane was “taken out of service for inspection by our maintenance team” and “the safety of our customers and team members is our top priority”. Hawaii’s transportation department also confirmed to CNN that the airline had “made a hard landing”.

The Federal Aviation Administration posted on its website that it will investigate the hard landing. The statement read: “American Airlines Flight 271, an Airbus A320, made a hard landing on Runway 20 at Kahului Airport in Hawaii at approximately 2pm local time. Contact the airline for passenger information. The FAA will investigate.”

A hard landing is when a plane lands on a runway with excessive force, but it is not classed as a crash. It can be due to pilot error, wind changes or steep descents to a landing strip.

It comes after an American Airlines plane skidded off the runway and onto the grass as it landed amid snowy conditions at Rochester Airport on Thursday 18 January. The flight, which had 53 people on board, flew from Philadelphia and turbulently landed at Rochester Airport in New York at around 4pm before it slid off the runway. No injuries were reported and a Rochester Airport spokesman confirmed the American Airlines flight landed safely on the main runway before skidding off onto the grass.