I was on flight HA 30 from Kahului to Seattle on Dec 19 2021 (Dec 20 Zulu time).
FlightAware track log
FlightRadar24 track log
The descent looked anything but familiar.
As you can see it reached over 5,400 fpm at times.
I definitely felt it.
After descending from FL410 to 10k MSL, the plane got back to 16k MSL before landing.
I have looked at the flightradar replay and it looks like the plane is heading to Portland, it follows the very same path as ASA834 and HAL26 (both Honolulu-Portland flights) in front of it. Could it be that it mistakenly started to descent towards Portland ?
HAL 26
ASA 834
HAL30 at 10k MSL
Full descent path
.
All other flights coming from the Hawaii island towards Seattle that evening crossed into mainland way further north: HAL 22, DAL 489, ASA 942.
Do you find all this strange, could there have been an emergency or misunderstanding ?
Additional details, in response to questions asked:
- We did have 2 stints of small hail hitting the airplane while descending, don't recall exactly when.
- At the very start of the descent, the seatbelt sign was not on. A couple minutes later it went on and the plane immediately started descending visibly faster.
Update
Got a response from Hawaiian Airlines Consumer Affairs Office
We've contacted our System Operation Control Center (SOCC) and they've stated that the weather in the area of Portland Aiport was poor and the dispatcher routed the plane to not encounter the poor weather and turbulence in the higher altitude around Portland.
CLUTS R465 CORTT ADTIL 3800N/13200W 4000N/13000W HEMLO ONP J136 BTG HAWKZ7
(Skyvector link). Other flights before and after the flight in question useAPACK R463 AUNTI A332 HELOP A332 HEKAB FOZZI SEDAR LATAY HAWKZ7
(Skyvector link). $\endgroup$