By Nora Nagao, special to the Star-Bulletin
The window of a 747 that returned to Honolulu
Airport yesterday appeared to be cracked in this
photograph taken by a passenger.

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Vegas charter
flight aborted

The 747 returns to Honolulu
Airport 15 minutes after takeoff

By Lori Tighe
Star-Bulletin

Flying to Las Vegas may seem a gamble today for 435 passengers who were on an American International Airways charter that suffered an engine loss yesterday.

An oil leak caused Flight CB370 to return to Honolulu Airport 15 minutes into the trip, said state Transportation Department spokeswoman Marilyn Kali.

"An emergency was declared at 10:55 a.m. and the plane was secured eight minutes later," Kali said. There were no injuries.

The mishap shattered a window, shook the plane violently and caused the Boeing 747 jet to descend rapidly, passengers said. "All of a sudden, bang! My window turned white. It had shattered outside from a piece of engine that fell off and hit it," said Honolulu resident Jack Linsky, 70. "Then the plane began shaking like a vibrator."

Linsky said he told the flight attendant, who apparently notified the captain.

"It felt like a sudden earthquake. Even the airline attendants were upset," said Nora Nagao, 30, traveling with a few friends for a Las Vegas vacation.

By Ken Ige, Star-Bulletin
Passengers questioned a representative of Jimmy's
Travel about their travel options after their flight to
Las Vegas returned to Honolulu Airport yesterday.

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"Then it got violent," said Nagao's friend David Vallesteros, 29.

"It felt like the wings were trying to come off. I thought, oh this is not right, this is weird."

The captain told passengers he shut down one of the engines and began dumping fuel to meet weight requirements to land, Nagao said. "It was pretty scary."

"Everyone seemed edgy after the window cracked," said Chad Horimoto, 30, traveling with Nagao and Vallesteros. "The plane descended quickly."

"I'm glad to be alive, though, really," Linsky said. "They did a fantastic job landing that plane. It was rattling like you wouldn't believe."

Jimmy Lee, owner of Jimmy's Travel, which chartered the plane, met passengers at Gate 18 and gave them their options.

American International Airways offered passengers $100 each if they rebooked their trip.

They were offered $50 if they boarded a smaller plane with 350 seats that was scheduled to leave early this morning.

Passengers who canceled altogether would get a refund.

"It is a gamble. We don't know if God's trying to tell us something, or if we got rid of our bad luck," Nagao said. She and her friends had to think about it.

Rolond Locquiao, 47, decided not to go.

"I'm going to back off and go another time.

"This is a warning," he said.