Sept. 14--An American Airlines plane that flew from Los Angeles International Airport to Honolulu International Airport two weeks ago was not certified to make the trip, the company said in a statement.
The plane in question was an A321S, which regularly flies over water but is not ETOPS-certified. That certification is required by the Federal Aviation Administration for American's Hawaiian flights, which travel an extended distance without a stopping point.
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The mix-up with Flight 31 was first reported by aviation expert Brian Sumers.
"When we realized what happened, we immediately notified the FAA and began a thorough review of our procedures," American Airlines said in a statement. "Already, we have revised our software to properly identify the correct aircraft are operating the correct routes."
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The correct plane for that flight should have been an A321H, which entered American's fleet last month. The A321H and A321S have the same safety rafts and flotation devices, but ETOPS-certified planes have extra oxygen and an extra fire suppression canister to last for the longer flight.
The flight landed safely in Honolulu on Aug. 31, American Airlines said. The return flight was canceled, and the plane returned to LAX with only crew members aboard.
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