Before 1985, passengers boarding a transoceanic flight could expect to fly in an aircraft with three or four engines. Given the vast distances these flights would cover without a diversion airport and the previously unreliable piston engine, regulators determined that airlines should not be allowed to deploy twin-engine jets on transoceanic flights. This meant operators were forced to deploy costly trijets and quadjets on most long-haul flights in their network.
Today, though regulations have changed dramatically regarding which aircraft are legally permitted to fly long distances from a diversion airport, aircraft still need an ETOPS certification . While this certification can be granted to many narrowbody and widebody aircraft alike, airlines still need to ensure every aircraft embarking on a long-distance flight has received approval to do so. Today’s ETOPS certifications allow US carriers to fly to Hawaii from the mainland United States using narrowbody aircraft.
However, these planes must be specifically certified for the operation to be permitted. Unfortunately, a scheduling mistake from American Airlines once resulted in a non-ETOPS-certified Airbus A321 traveling to the Hawaiian Islands from the US West Coast. But what exactly happened? What is ETOPS? ETOPS stands for Extended-Range Twin-Engine Operations Performance Standards, though some in the industry humorously refer to it as 'engines turn or passengers swim.
' Its foundation stretches back to when piston-power.
