American Airlines Flight Avoids a Mountain in Hawaii with ‘Expedited Climb’

An American Airlines flight conducting a standard departure from Honolulu, Hawaii had to conduct an expedited climb in order to avoid a mountain on 13 November.

An American Airlines flight conducting a standard departure from Honolulu, Hawaii had to conduct an expedited climb in order to avoid a mountain on 13 November 2024.

American Airlines flight AA298, operated by an Airbus A321neo, was conducting a departure from Honolulu International Airport (HNL). The aircraft was conducting a scheduled service to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

American Airlines AA298 Honolulu-Los Angleles

Flight track of American Airlines AA298 showing departure from Honolulu.

Following takeoff, the flight had been issued standard departure directions by ATC. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)released a brief report of the incident. It stated that the air traffic controller subsequently instructed the flights to make an expedited climb. According to the FAA report, the flight crew had failed to make an assigned turn. The turn formed part of the routine departure given to the flight by ATC.

“An air traffic controller instructed American Airlines Flight 298 to perform an expedited climb after the crew did not make the assigned turn while departing from Honolulu International Airport.”

According to the ABC News, American Airlines released a statement following the after takeoff incidents. According to the airline, flight crew complied with the subsequent instruction and there were no subsequent issues with terrain clearance.

“During the climb out of Honolulu on November 13, the crew of American Airlines flight 298 requested and received right-turn clearance and complied with controller instructions. There was no Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) alert as there were no issues with terrain clearance based on the trajectory of the aircraft.”

An American Airlines A321neo on climb. — 4300streetcar, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Flight Details

Flight data shows that flight AA298 made an on-time departure out of Honolulu International Airport at 2333 local time on 13 November.

Following the flights take off, the aircraft can be seen making a right-hand turn in compliance with ATC instructions.

The aircraft conducting the AA298 service to Los Angeles was an Airbus A321neo, and registered N413AN. This is a 4.4-year-old narrowbody aircraft longing to the carrier American Airlines. It has been an operational service with the airline since July 2020.