A United Airlines flight lost an external panel mid-flight in the latest safety incident to plague Boeing.
The Boeing 737-824 plane departed from San Francisco International Airport on Friday at 10.20am with 139 passengers and six crew members. It was not until the aircraft landed safely in Mogue Valley International/Medford Airport in Oregon, that United discovered the missing part, KGO reported.
‘After the aircraft was parked at the gate, it was discovered to be missing an external panel,’ stated United Airlines.
Pilots were unaware that anything had happened during the flight.
The part that ripped off was the wing to body fairing underneath the aircraft where the wing and body meet, according to United.
United stated it will ‘thoroughly examine the plane and perform repairs and conduct an investigation to know how the damage occurred’.
The plane has been grounded pending the investigation.
United Airline Flight 433 landed at 11.36am, 17 minutes ahead of schedule, according to FlightAware.
No debris was recovered at the scene and normal operations resumed minutes later.
‘There was no indication of the damage during flight’ and the plane did not make an emergency landing, the airline stated.
No one was injured, said Jackson County Airport Director Amber Judd. She added that it was not a new plane.
‘It was not a MAX aircraft,’ said Judd.
The mishap comes as Boeing faces several lawsuits for other safety incidents on recent flights. Most alarmingly, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-MAX 9 door plug fell out mid-flight in January.
Earlier this month, United Airlines Flight 35, a Boeing 777-200, lost part of a landing gear tire during takeoff from San Francisco International Airport to Osaka, Japan. The debris landed in an employee parking lot. The plane diverted to Los Angeles International Airport and no one was injured.
And on Monday, another United Airlines flight, a Boeing 777-300 that departed from Sydney for San Francisco, was forced to turn back to Australia after fuel was observed spilling from its landing gear.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE : Woman working at plant dies after trying to retrieve AirPod from conveyer
MORE : Biden seen with cheat cards on how to pronounce names of fellow Irish leaders
MORE : Tornadoes leave at least three dead in ‘mass casualty event’
Get your need-to-know
latest news, feel-good stories, analysis and more
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.