US: United Airlines flight diverted after passengers spot damaged wing at 31,000 feet. Watch!
United Airlines plane diverted
A passenger flight from San Francisco to Boston on Monday (Jan 19th) had to be diverted to Denver after passengers aboard the aeroplane spotted parts of the plane's wing were damaged.
The news was first reported by Boston's WHDH 7 News on Tuesday. Talking to news agency Associated Press, Kevin Clarke, a 67-year-old ski announcer from Maine who was among the passengers on the United Airlines flight said that the flight was diverted to Denver after one of the pilots walked along the plane's aisle.
Clarke managed to capture a video of the chipped plane wing. His video, which has been widely shared on social media platforms, including X, shows the plane with a damaged wing with a dark blue tip descending onto a runway.
You can see it here:
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In a statement to AP, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said that it is investigating the incident.
What did the airlines say?
United Airlines in its statement said: "United flight 354 diverted to Denver yesterday afternoon to address an issue with the slat on the wing of the aircraft. The flight landed safely, and we arranged for another aircraft to take our customers to Boston." However, it failed to confirm what caused the damage to the wing.
As per the Aviation Herald, the Boeing 757-200, with registration number N57111, was carrying 165 people on board. None of the passengers were hurt.
The slat damage was observed on the right-hand wing. According to the Aviation Safety Information website JACDEC, the right inner slat partially disintegrated during cruise flight at around 31000 ft (9.45 kilometres).
Due to the diversion, a replacement plane completed the journey, and the flight was delayed by about 3.5 hours.
On Tuesday, a Reddit user aboard the flight also shared pictures of the damage on the social media platform, asking people "How panicked should I be? Do I need to tell a flight crew member?".
The post by the time of this report had garnered 2,200 upvotes and 536 comments. He also posted a series of photos showcasing the progression of damage to the wing.
(With inputs from agencies)
