Pepper spray discharges on Hawaiian Airlines flight, sickens people

A
Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767-300.

Wikimedia
Commons

• A Hawaiian
  Airlines plane made an emergency landing in Maui on Friday
  after a canister of pepper spray discharged mid-flight, causing
  multiple passengers and flight attendants to become
  ill.
• The TSA confirmed
  to Business Insider that the small, personal-size pepper-spray
  canister involved in the incident was seized upon
  landing
• Fifteen passengers and crew had to be treated for
  respiratory problems upon landing.
• In an odd twist, this same Hawaiian Airlines flight was
  delayed prior to take-off after a 15-year-old girl reportedly
  shared a graphic but staged crime-scene photo with multiple
  passengers on the plane while trying to text message her
  mother. 

A Hawaiian Airlines jet made an emergency landing on Friday after
a canister of pepper spray discharged mid-flight, causing
multiple passengers and flight attendants to become ill. Some of
them required medical attention upon landing. 

Hawaiian Airlines Flight 23, a Boeing 767-300ER, was en route to
the island of Maui in Hawaii from Oakland, California, when the
incident took place. 

Hawaiian Airlines Flight 23 departed from Oakland International
Airport at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, August 31 en route to
Kahului. According to
Hawaiian News Now, numerous people in first and premium
classes began coughing and complaining about burning eyes roughly
three hours into the flight. A baby also vomited, one passenger
told the publication. 

Flight attendants temporarily relocated passengers to the back of
the plane to allow the odor to clear before they were allowed to
return to their seats. 

“During the cruise portion of the flight from Oakland
International Airport (OAK) to Maui’s Kahului Airport (OGG),
passengers in the forward section of the Boeing 767 experienced
an unpleasant odor,” Hawaiian Airlines said in a statement to
Business Insider. “Out of an abundance of caution, the flight
crew declared an emergency to obtain handling priority into and
at OGG.”

The plane landed in Kahului, Hawaii, around 10:30 a.m local
time.

Fifteen people had to be treated for respiratory problems
upon landing, including 12 passengers and three flight
attendants, the airline said. All were later
released. 

According to the airline, the odor came from a pepper-spray
canister “brought on board illegally by a passenger.”

Pepper spray in canisters as large as four ounces are
allowed on flights, but only if it’s stored in checked luggage,
according to the website for the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA).

The TSA confirmed to Business Insider that the
agency and the Maui Police Department are investigating the
matter. The agency added that the
civil penalty for bringing pepper spray onto an airplane can
reach $1,960. In some cases, the TSA told us, “aggravating
circumstances” can push the penalty even higher.

“The TSA has authority to access civil penalties of up to
$13,000 for travelers who bring weapons to airports,” the agency
said. 

In an odd twist, the same Hawaiian Airlines Flight was delayed
prior to take-off due to an unrelated incident in which a
15-year-old teenage girl reportedly shared a graphic but staged
crime-scene photo with multiple passengers on the plane.
According to the Washington Post, the teen had
been trying to AirDrop the photograph to her mother via Bluetooth
technology and instead connected to multiple cell phone networks
on the plane.

After being notified of the text messages, the pilot returned to
the gate, and the flight was delayed an hour and a half while
investigators looked into the matter. The girl and her mother
were led off the flight and questioned by Alameda
County sheriff’s deputies but were cleared of any crime, the

Post reported. The teen and her family were rebooked on a
later flight.

Hawaiian Airlines has apologized for the two unrelated
incidents and compensated passengers with a $500 credit.