A flight headed from Alaska to the Big Island on Thursday afternoon (Feb. 5) was diverted back to its point of departure after declaring an emergency while flying over the Gulf of Alaska, after being in the air for only a few hours following takeoff.
Alaska Airlines Flight 255 — from Anchorage, Alaska, to Kailua-Kona on the west side of the Big Island — was forced to turn around because of a maintenance issue.
Data from FlightAware — an online platform the providing accurate, real-time, historical and predictive flight insights to the aviation industry — show that Alaska Flight 255 took off at 3:53 p.m. Thursday from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.
It was expected to touch down between 5 and 6 hours later at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport on Hawai‘i Island…