When you’re on a long flight, there’s nothing better than gazing aimlessly out the window at the clouds rushing by. When you’re gazing out the window, I image this serenity is somewhat shattered if you see chunks of the very plane you’re sitting on breaking off, as passengers on one Boston-bound flight witnessed this week.
According to local news station NBC Boston 10, a United Airlines flight headed to Boston was diverted to Denver after one of its wings started to fall apart following its departure from San Francisco. Passengers onboard the flight, which was operated on a Boeing 757-200 aircraft, reported lots of vibration shortly after takeoff, and Kevin Clarke, who was on the plane, even snapped video of a section of wing disintegrating mid-air. As NBC reports:
Clarke said the pilot showed up near his seat about 45 minutes into the flight.
“He goes behind me and I was kind of sleepy, so I wasn’t paying much attention at that point, but then he goes back to the cockpit and he comes on the PA and says, ‘We’ve discovered we have some damage on one of the front flaps and we’re going to divert to Denver and put you all in a different plane,’” Clarke said.
The plane then carried out an emergency landing at Denver, but on the way down the damage appeared to get even worse. Futurism reports that passengers on the plane reported seeing parts of the wing section ripping off, while others were “visibly flapping” as the aircraft came ever closer to the ground.
Thankfully, the plane landed safely and all 165 passengers onboard were offloaded. However, the incident does mean that the Federal Aviation Administration is now investigating a sixth incident involving a Boeing aircraft.
Past dramas aboard Boeing flights have included doors ripping out the side of the plane, maggots falling from the luggage compartments and even a fire in the engine of an aircraft. Remind me to check what kind of plane I’m flying on before boarding next time.