A passenger on a United Airlines flight captured shocking video of the “wing coming apart” as the plane made an emergency landing.
Kevin Clarke was among the 165 passengers aboard the Boeing 757-200 on Monday’s flight from San Francisco to Boston, when the right wing seemed to begin to break apart.
The man captured the horrific incident on video as the plane made an emergency landing nearly 2,000 miles from its intended destination, The New York Post reported.
“About to land in Denver with the plane’s wing coming apart”Clarke is heard saying moments before landing, in the clip posted by his wife.
“It fell apart when we took off in San Francisco and we’re almost on the ground. “I can’t wait for this flight to be over,” she said. “They have another plane waiting for us. Land any second and the nightmare will be over.”
Clarke told WCVB that he felt “this incredibly strong vibration” just as the wheels lifted. “It was like, ‘What was that?’” he told the outlet.
The passenger said that the pilot left the cockpit about 45 minutes into the flight to see the damage.
“He’s behind me and I was a little sleepy so I wasn’t paying much attention at the time, but then he comes back into the cockpit and comes on the PA and says, ‘We’ve discovered that we’ve got some damage to one of the flaps.’ forwards and we’ll divert to Denver and put them all on a different plane,’” Clarke told NBC Boston.
Another passenger posted a photo of the wing on Reddit
“Sitting on the wing and the noise after reaching altitude was much louder than normal. “I opened the window and saw the wing looking like this,” the user wrote.
“How scared should I be? Do I have to tell a flight crew member? he added she. “I will be very relieved once we land.”.
The plane landed safely in Denver at 5:15 pm on Monday. The passengers were placed on another flight, which arrived at Boston Logan International Airport around 2:45 a.m.
According to United, there were no injuries during the incident. “United Flight 354 diverted to Denver yesterday afternoon to resolve an issue with the aircraft’s wing slat,” the airline said in a statement to NBC Boston.
“The flight landed safely and we arranged another plane to take our clients to Boston,” he added.
It was unclear what caused the damagewhich remains under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Slats are extendable devices on the leading edge of the wings of some fixed-wing aircraft that increase lift during the takeoff and landing phases of flight.
“What we’re seeing there is the trailing edge of that slat where the damage occurred,” ABC News contributor Col. Steve Ganyard told WCVB.
“If the damage had been more at the front, could have affected the control of the plane“Ganyard told the outlet. “Fortunately, in this case, it was in the rear and it didn’t really have much of an effect on the behavior of the plane. “Any damage to the leading edge of a wing is bad because that wing no longer functions as designed,” he added.
Other problems with Boeing
According to The New York Post, Boeing has been under scrutiny since a door plug on a 737 MAX 9 owned by Alaska Airlines carrying 177 people exploded in the sky near Portland, Oregon, during a flight to California on January 5, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing.
The FAA chief has pledged to use more people to monitor aircraft manufacturing and hold the embattled company accountable for any violations of safety rules.
A Boeing supplier later notified the company that had discovered improperly drilled holes in the fuselages of about 50 undelivered 737 MAX aircraft.
Keep reading:
– Two JetBlue planes collided on the runway of a Boston airport: “No injuries were reported.”
– Another scandal for Boeing: 757 plane lost a front wheel before takeoff in Atlanta.