Terrifying moment passenger looked out of his plane window to see the wing of Boeing 757-200 falling apart on United Airlines San Francisco to Boston flight
A United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Boston was canceled and the jet landed in Denver after one of its wings was damaged.
A passenger on Monday’s flight said he had just put on earplugs and was starting to fall asleep when he felt the plane shake.
“Suddenly I heard a violent vibration like I’d never heard before,” Kevin Clarke said in an interview Tuesday.
Clarke said one of the pilots walked down the aisle of the main cabin, then returned to the cockpit and announced that the plane had minor damage to the right wing and that the flight would be diverted to Denver.
In the original clip, Clarke can be heard saying, “I’m about to land in Denver with the wing falling apart.”
Clarke opened his window screen and took a video of the damage that later aired on Boston 25 News. He told the station that he heard a “loud buzzing noise” shortly after takeoff.
In the original clip, seen here, 67-year-old Kevin Clarke can be heard saying, “I’m about to land in Denver with the wing falling apart.”
“Suddenly I heard a violent vibration like I had never heard before,” Clarke said
Kevin Clarke told CNN he was comforted that the pilot believed the plane was good enough to fly, but he began to have doubts when the plane encountered turbulence.
“And then it faded away, so I didn’t think much about it, and suddenly the pilot comes back, so I threw open my window, peeked out the window and the whole leading edge of the wing was destroyed,” he added.
The 67-year-old, a ski race announcer from Maine, was comforted by the fact that the pilot believed the plane was good enough to fly, but he began to have doubts when the plane encountered turbulence.
Clark started checking the wing repeatedly until he decided he just couldn’t watch anymore.
“I just wanted to pray that we would make it to the other side of the turbulence,” he said.
United said the Boeing 757-200 with 165 passengers on board landed in Denver to resolve “an issue with the slat” on one of its wings.
Slats are movable panels on the leading or leading edge of the wing and are used during takeoff and landing.
Chicago-based United did not say what caused the damage that ripped off pieces of the crossbar.
Chicago-based United did not say what caused the damage that ripped off pieces of the crossbar
The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday it is investigating the incident.
The plane landed safely in Denver and the passengers were put on another plane, arriving in Boston within 20 minutes later in the day, the airline said.
The incident comes at a time of passenger jitters after a door panel on an Alaska Airlines plane flying over Oregon cracked last month.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report that bolts designed to prevent the panel from moving were missing on the Boeing 737 Max 9 plane.