A Boeing 737-800 plane was used. United Airlines. said the plane flew on Friday with a large part of its exterior missing, and this is the latest in a series of malfunctions to affect the manufacturer.
The flight from San Francisco to Oregon landed safely, but crews found a broken exterior panel on the 25-year-old plane after it landed.
According to United Airlines, no emergency was declared and the missing piece was only found after all 139 passengers and six crew members had safely left the plane.
The airline said, “We’ll thoroughly check the plane and make all necessary repairs before it goes back into service.”
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched an investigation into the incident, which is the seventh reported incident involving a Boeing plane this week.
Despite travelers’ increasing fears of flying with Boeing, aviation expert Richard Levy says this latest incident is not a concern. growing fears of flying with Boeing, aviation expert Richard Levy says this latest incident is not a concern.
“The airplane did not come directly from the Boeing factory. It was an older plane. The plane landed safely. Yes, there will be an investigation because of the recent Boeing news. But in terms of safety, I’m not concerned at all,” said Levy, who is also a former commercial pilot.
According to FAA records, the Boeing plane on Friday was built in late 1998.
Boeing has been under close scrutiny for the quality of its aircraft after an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 was forced to make an emergency landing on Jan. 5, when a panel called a door plug blew out of the side of the plane shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon.
Three passengers from the flight have since taken legal action against the airline and Boeing, claiming the incident was due to negligence. sued the airline and Boeing, asserting the incident resulted from negligence.
Levy notes that the Boeing aircraft used by United Airlines was not a ‘Max’, which is the model associated with the Alaska Airlines incident and most under probe.
“Boeing makes great airplanes. We know that Boeing is under the spotlight right now… but would you also believe that Airbus has issues? Not daily, but almost every day,” Levy told Global News.
Airbus is another major aircraft manufacturing company with planes frequently used by Air Canada.
Levy says he would have “zero hesitation” flying with his wife on any Boeing model, including the 737, 777, Max 8 or 9.
“I flew these Boeing airplanes 41 years, had a great time flying them, and I had really no engine shutdowns,” Levy said.
Since the January incident, Boeing has frequently made headlines for seemingly unrelated safety and quality issues.
Earlier this March, a tire fell off a Boeing jetliner shortly after takeoff at San Francisco International Airport, breaking through a fence in a parking lot below and smashing into cars.
Also in January, the nose wheel of a Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 passenger jet dropped and moved away while the plane waited on the runway for permission to take off at Georgia’s Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
On Monday, at least 50 individuals were hurt following a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner experienced a sudden descent in what LATAM Airlines described as a “forceful motion” mid-air.
The FAA began investigating Boeing in March 2023, nearly a year before the Alaska Airlines incident, after fatal crashes of Boeing 787 MAX-8 planes operated by Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines in 2018.
The inquiry concluded in February that Boeing is not as dedicated to safety as it claims.It stated the FAA “noticed documentation, survey responses, and employee interviews that did not offer clear evidence of a fundamental commitment to safety that matched Boeing’s portrayals of that goal.”
A few weeks earlier, FAA head Michael Whitaker informed U.S. lawmakers that Boeing’s oversight system “is not working.”
“I definitely agree the current system is not working because it’s not producing safe aircraft, so we need to make changes to that,” he said.
In relation to the most recent incident Friday, Levy says the public should not be reluctant to travel on a Boeing aircraft.
“Boeing will be manufacturing more and more planes that are going to be excellent planes, secure planes,” he said.
–with files from Global News’ Nathanial Dove
