United Airlines Just Had Yet Another 737 Max Mishap
Still reeling from blowback from the recent 737 Max controversies and a defective wing on one of their planes last month, United Airlines suffered from a barrage of accidents one after the other this week. On March 4, a United flight's engine caught fire and forced an emergency landing in Houston. Then, yesterday, another United plane flying out of SFO lost a wheel, which landed in an airport parking lot and smashed a couple of cars. But United still wasn't done with the drama for the week.
This morning, yet another incident involving a United Airlines plane took place in Houston. Passengers traveling with United had to be evacuated from a plane landing at George Bush Intercontinental after the aircraft suddenly and inexplicably rolled off the runway.
According to reporters from Houston's KHOU 11, the United Airlines flight, carrying 160 passengers and six crew members, was arriving from Memphis, Tennessee around 8 am when something went bizarrely wrong upon landing. The airplane suddenly exited the taxiway and rolled off onto a grassy area near the tarmac. Passengers snapped pictures outside as they were evacuated from the plane, capturing skid marks on the ground where the plane had tried- and failed- to stay on the tarmac.
It was a terrifying experience for the passengers inside the cabin. One passenger named Mike described hearing a huge "pop" and feeling the plane tilt over upon landing, causing some of the passengers to scream in fright. Luckily, nobody was injured in the rough landing, and after all were evacuated, United Airlines and airport workers helped them with making their connecting flights and recovering their luggage.
It isn't yet clear what caused the plane, which Fox Business reports is a Boeing 737 Max 8, to roll off the runway. However, United Airlines has reportedly said they will cooperate with the NTSB, the FAA, and Boeing on the investigation.
A Bad Week for United and Boeing
This same airport, George Bush Intercontinental Airport, was where a United plane departed and almost immediately returned for an emergency landing on Monday after a sudden engine fire ignited after takeoff. Between the two incidents in Houston and the lost landing wheel in San Francisco, it's been a shockingly rough week for United. But there's another throughline in all of these instances. Though United Airlines' fleet is comprised of aircraft from both Airbus and Boeing, every United aircraft involved in an incident this week- as well as the one with the disintegerating wing from last month- was a Boeing plane.
Boeing has rightfully been under extreme scrutiny since the Alaska Airlines door plug incident on January 5, and air travelers are more wary than ever of flying on their aircraft. With accident after accident occurring on United's Boeing planes this week, people are starting to take notice, especially as the plane involved in today's incident was one of the controversial 737 Max models. However, without knowing the results of the investigations, it's impossible to know whether the fault is with Boeing's manufacturing, United's maintenance, or other outside factors entirely. We don't even know for certain if today's incident was due to a mechanical issue, and not operator error.
For all we know at this time, this could just be a string of very unfortunate coincidences. At a certain point, though, the likelihood of these all being coincidental seems less and less plausible. Unfortunately, until more specifics about these incidents are made public, all we can do is watch and speculate.
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