The mistake happened on August 31, just a few days after American Airlines started to fly the Airbus A321 planes from L.A. to Hawaii. American Airlines has other planes that fly from L.A. to Hawaii.
An American Airlines spokesman confirmed the mistake, saying the plane that was flown to Hawaii was not certified to make long flights over water, and it was accidentally flown that day.
The spokesman for the airline said once they realized the mistake, they contacted the FAA right away and started to review their procedures. Since the accident, American Airlines say it has revised its software to properly identify the correct aircraft are operating the correct routes.
The A321S does fly over water regularly for missions, but it is not ETOPS-certified, which the FAA requires for the airline’s Hawaiian flights.
One pilot for the airline said that somewhere, somebody screwed up big-time. The pilot said that extended certified equipment on any long-range aircraft has to be signed off by maintenance crews, and there is a checklist of items that the crews have to go through because a plane is certified to fly. The pilot added that it was a very good thing that there was not an emergency on that flight.
The return flight back to L.A. was cancelled, and the plane was flown back with just a minimal crew on it.
