A flight travelling from San Francisco to Boston was forced to make an emergency landing in Denver on Monday after one of the plane's wings started breaking apart mid-air.
The incident happened with United Airlines Flight 354, carrying around 165 passengers on board the Boeing 757-200.
United Airlines, on Tuesday, confirmed in a statement that there was "an issue with the slat on the wing of the aircraft" but did not specify the cause of the damage to the plane, according to reports in the local media.
After experiencing the wing flap issue, the flight was diverted to Denver International Airport where it safely landed at 5:21 PM.
Kevin Clarke, one of the 165 passengers on the United Airlines Flight 354, captured the nightmare incident on his phone. The footage that has been circling on social media showed pieces of the Boeing 757′s torn wing flapping in the wind moments before the plane touched down in Denver.
On February 19, #UnitedAirlines Boeing 757-200 (N57111) flight #UA354 from #SanFrancisco to #Boston was forced to divert to #Denver after the right inner leading edge slat partially disintegrated inflight at 31,000 feet.
— FlightMode (@FlightModeblog) February 21, 2024
🎥 ©Kevin Clarke#Boeing #B757 #aviation #AvGeek #avgeeks pic.twitter.com/Lb1nW4W1tp
It is understood that Clarke and the other passengers were transferred to another flight, which brought them to their original destination, Boston, three hours later than planned. The passengers landed at Boston Logan International Airport early Tuesday morning.
While no injuries were reported, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it would thoroughly investigate the incident.
Last month, the FAA suspended most of Boeing's 737 MAX 9 planes after a door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines MAX 9 passenger jet shortly after take-off.
There have been quite a few safety-related issues reported in the airline industry in recent times. Just earlier this month, a United Airlines plane made an emergency landing after one of its engines shut down mid-flight. The United Airlines Flight 575, carrying 138 passengers, was travelling from Charlotte to Houston but was forced to divert and land in Atlanta.
This came just after another United Airlines flight had to make an emergency landing due to a cracked windshield. The incident happened on a flight that was travelling from Las Vegas to Washington DC on Sunday (Jan. 28).
Another United Airlines flight from Florida was forced to make an emergency landing after an open door indicator light illuminated mid-air. The incident happened on Jan. 10 after the flight heading to Chicago, took off from Sarasota, Florida and the light came on. That forced pilots to alert dispatchers and reroute the plane to the next closest airport, which was in Tampa. That plane had 123 passengers and five crew members on board,
Meanwhile, a Virgin Atlantic flight heading to Barbados made an emergency landing in Manchester on Jan. 7 because "smoke" filled the cockpit minutes after take-off.
