United Airlines dive in which the plane came within 220 meters of the crash in the Pacific Ocean was caused by pilot error, investigation finds

A United Airlines flight plunged within 800 feet of the Pacific Ocean due to pilot error, an official investigation has found.

Confusion over the wing panels led the captain to order an emergency descent of the Boeing 777 just seconds after takeoff from Hawaii’s Kahului Airport on Dec. 18.

The dive was only stopped when it activated an emergency alarm from the ground proximity warning system and the first officer shouted ‘pull up, pull up’, the aircraft being mere seconds after impact.

The near-catastrophe that sent terrified passengers screaming has been laid bare in a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report, which blames “miscommunication” between the pair, both of whom still fly for the airline.

“Our pilots have voluntarily reported this incident and United has fully cooperated with the independent investigation so that insights can be used to improve safety across the industry,” said an airline spokesperson.

Flight UA1722 had 271 passengers on board and departed for San Francisco at 2:29 PM in heavy rain.

Passenger Rod Williams II said the plane began to climb at a “disturbing rate” after a normal takeoff.

“It felt like climbing to the top of a roller coaster,” he told CNN.

The plane’s flaps should have been retracted immediately after takeoff, but the first officer told investigators that the captain had asked him to keep them extended.

With the aircraft only 2,200 feet above the sea, the captain ordered an emergency descent, fearing that the air pressure would destroy the exposed flaps.

“As the plane started to dive, there were several screams at that point,” Williams said.

“Everyone knew there was something unusual, or at least it wasn’t normal.”

The NTSB blamed the flight crew’s “failure to manage the plane’s vertical flight path.”

“As the aircraft reached acceleration altitude, the captain lowered the pitch slightly and called for the flap setting to be reduced to flaps 5,” it reported.

“According to the first officer, he thought he heard the captain announce flaps 15.”

“Both pilots recalled hearing the initial ground proximity warning system (GPWS) warnings, and the first officer recalled announcing ‘pull up pull up’ along with those initial GPWS warnings.”

The plane dropped to just 800 feet (230 m) before emerging from the nosedive and rising again 71 seconds after takeoff.

The plane managed to reach its destination without further incident, but the report comes on the heels of a series of near misses that have some industry experts fearing tragedy is inevitable.

A Delta Boeing with 145 passengers on board nearly crashed nose-first into the side of an American Airlines plane at 115 mph at New York’s JFK Airport in January.

Passengers were pushed forward in their seats as the Delta pilot slammed into reverse upon seeing the American in front of him steer toward the runway as he accelerated for takeoff.

The following month, a Boeing 767 FedEx cargo plane landing at Austin-Bergstrom International came within 100 feet of a Southwest Airlines 737 plane taking off from the same runway.

And days later, a JetBlue flight landing at Boston’s Logan International Airport nearly crashed into a private jet taking off without permission.

“Incidents like this are increasing at an alarming rate,” aviation expert and pilot Juan Browne told DailyMail.com.

‘There is a huge turnover in the industry, not only among pilots but also among air traffic controllers, mechanics, mainters (maintenance personnel).

“And with the current state of hiring practices and training and the relentless effort to do things faster, cheaper and more efficiently, we are just one phone call away from the biggest aviation disaster in history.”

There were 1,732 near misses or “raids” in 2022 in about 17 million flights handled by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA).

But of those, only a handful were ‘Category A’, defined as ‘a serious incident where a collision was narrowly avoided’. Most of the recorded cases are incidents with ‘no immediate safety implications’.

Both pilots involved in the December incidents have been sent for “additional training,” the airline said, urging it to “take the lessons from this flight to inform the training of all United pilots.”

“Our pilots voluntarily reported this incident and United cooperated fully with the independent investigation so that insights could be used to improve safety across the industry.”