Operating a commercial flight is perhaps one of the most rules-driven procedures in the world. From fuel and load calculations to weather considerations and various contingency plans, commercial airliner pilots have plenty to keep in mind during a flight. Among the various things governing the safety of a flight are diversion airports between the two destinations.
A diversion could be for multiple reasons, but it’s more critical when it involves an engine failure, as finding the nearest landing site becomes important. And there’s one over water route in particular that offers little choice when it comes to an alternative landing spot. Hawaii – An outlier Hawaii is one of the two US states that is not a contiguous part of the mainland—the other is Alaska.
Flights to the various airports on the Hawaiian Islands have to cross vast stretches of the Pacific Ocean, and some services from the mainland United States to Hawaii can be longer than those operating to Europe. For example, a nonstop service from New York JFK Airport to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) in Honolulu takes more than 10 hours compared to a JFK-London Heathrow flight that usually lasts a little over six hours.
In fact, Hawaii is so far from the US East Coast that it is slightly faster to fly from Honolulu to Sydney, Australia, than it is to fly from New York to Honolulu. While destinations on the US West Coast are closer to Hawaii, with flights averaging around 5 hours, these over-water route.
