Honolulu-Bound Kalitta 747 Freighter Suffers Fire on Board

A Kalitta Air Boeing 747 freighter bound for Hawaii from Los Angeles experienced the fire in the cabin whilst en route on 24 May 2024.

Contents

Kalitta Air KS368 Los Angeles-Honolulu Flight Details

Kalitta Air flight KS368, heading to Hawaii’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL), had its crew report a fire in the back of the plane (aft cabin) while enroute.

Kalitta Air KS368 Los Angeles-Honolulu

Flight crew declared an emergency and continued the flight to the destination airport. The aircraft subsequently landed safely on RWY 08R at the Honolulu airport HNL.

The exact location from Honolulu at which the aft cabin fire was detected has not been confirmed.

An FAA report stated that the fire was located in the aft region of the aircraft and fire extinguishers were employed to extinguish it.

The aircraft did not squawk transponder code 7700 and continued under normal squawk.

Flight Details

Flight data shows that flight K4368 made an on-time departure out of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) at 02:47 local time.

The flight then set course normally and climbed to flight level FL380 (38,000 feet) for the Pacific crossing to Hawaii.

The aircraft conducting the scheduled freighter service to Honolulu was a Boeing 747-400 converted freighter, registered N740CK.

Kalitta Air operates this 34.7-year-old converted widebody freighter.

Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It has been in active service with the carrier since March 2008. The aircraft originally operated with Malaysia Airlines in a passenger configuration from its initial delivery in October 1989.

Boeing converted the aircraft to a cargo configuration in May 2003. Kalitta Air operates international scheduled and cargo charter services. Its call sign “Connie” is from its founder, Connie Kalitta.

Here’s a quick rundown about Kalitta Air:

– Operates a fleet of Boeing 747 and Boeing 777 freighter aircraft
– Offers both scheduled and chartered cargo services worldwide
– Has hubs at Los Angeles International Airport, Hong Kong International Airport, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, and John F. Kennedy International Airport