More terror for United passengers after plane is forced to make emergency landing over ‘complete hydraulic failure,’ with airline’s planes also suffering gear failure, lost wheel and engine malfunction this week
A United Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing on Friday after a failure in the plane’s hydraulic system, making it the airline’s fourth incident this week.
The airline said the flight from San Francisco to Mexico City had to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles because of the disruption.
All 105 passengers and five crew members on board landed safely and departed the gate, with a new flight having to be rescheduled.
The incident caps off a week of problems for the airline, with a plane going off the runway on Friday, a wheel coming off a plane on Thursday and a plane engine bursting into flames on Monday.
The United Airlines flight that lost its steering wheel had also departed San Francisco and was headed to Osaka, Japan, when the steering wheel of the Boeing 777-200 came loose.
The airline said the flight, seen here, was headed to Mexico City from San Francisco and had to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles because of the error
A Boeing 737 Max operated by United Airlines veered off the tarmac into the grass as it left the runway at George Bush Airport in Houston on Friday.
Several vehicles in the employee parking lot were severely damaged by the falling wheel, which also destroyed a fence.
The plane landed safely at LAX around 1:20 p.m. without further incident and with no injuries on the ground.
“The 777-200 has six straps on each of the two main landing gear struts. The aircraft is designed to land safely with missing or damaged tires,” United said.
A new plane had to be brought in to take the passengers from Los Angeles to Japan because of the incident.
On Friday, another plane veered off the runway after landing in Houston after it somehow collapsed as it left the runway at George Bush Airport.
Shocking footage showed the plane on its wings on the grass along the side of the runway as passengers were hurriedly removed from an emergency stepladder.
Despite the rocky end to the flight, one passenger claimed the landing went smoothly, but he felt some bumps as the plane started to taxi.
“It felt like having a flat tire in a car,” the passenger told Click2Houston.
United Airlines Flight 35 left San Francisco Airport en route to Osaka, Japan and had barely left the runway when the Boeing 777-200’s steering wheel came loose
Cars written off by the falling wheel are now nothing more than twisted metal
In a statement, Houston Airports said, “Around 8 a.m. (Friday), a United Airlines flight landed at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH).
“While departing the runway, the aircraft left the sidewalk and entered the grass along runway 9-27.
‘Luckily no one on board was injured. The Houston Fire Department and Houston Airports Operations responded immediately and safely evacuated all passengers.”
On Monday, another United plane suffered problems when its engine caught fire after departing Houston en route to Fort Myers, Florida.
United said Thursday they believe bubble wrap was sucked into the engine, causing the problems.
Footage taken from a passenger window shows hot flashes pouring from the plane’s engine.
“Hey ladies and gentlemen, we realized something happened outside,” a crew member can be heard warning passengers before the clip disappears.
One of the engines of another United Airlines 737 in Texas burst into flames in a terrifying fireball mid-flight earlier this week
Moments later, they were forced to make an emergency landing and return to George H. Bush Intercontinental Houston Airport shortly after takeoff. No injuries were reported in the incident.
Passenger Dorian D. Cerda told Storyful that the plane was “about 15 minutes” into the two-hour journey when the incident occurred, with the plane landing just before 7 p.m.
“The flight landed safely and the passengers departed normally,” United Airlines said, adding that it had “arranged a new aircraft to take our customers to their destinations.”
The model of the plane in the Houston incident was a Boeing 737-900, a similar plane to the Max fleet that was grounded in January after an exit door blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight over Oregon.
Bolts appear to be missing from the door plug that blew out of a Boeing 737 MAX during an Alaska Airlines flight on January 5
The door plug was found in the backyard of a home after it blew out on January 5
On Monday, the Federal Aviation Administration said a six-week audit of Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems found “multiple instances where the companies allegedly failed to meet production quality control requirements.”
“The FAA has identified compliance issues in its audit of Boeing’s manufacturing process, parts handling and storage, and product control. The FAA is providing these details to the public as an update to the agency’s ongoing investigation,” the statement said.
The government announced it would continue to ground Boeing’s 171 jets and had halted production expansion of the Boeing 737 MAX.
The news was a blow to the aircraft manufacturer, which saw its market value plummet by $30 billion in the aftermath of the disaster.
Boeing’s stock price also fell 20 percent in the month after the hit.