Passenger Films ‘Wing Coming Apart’ During Cross-Country United Flight

Nina Golgowski
·1 min read
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A United Airlines flight was forced to make an early landing Monday after pieces of the wing appeared shredded mid-flight, as seen in a video taken by a concerned passenger.

The video posted on Facebook and shared with local news outlets shows the Boeing 757-200 with noticeable damage to its right wing while attempting to fly from San Francisco to Boston.

“We are about to land in Denver with the wing coming apart on the plane,” passenger Kevin Clarke says in a video he shot and that was posted on Facebook by his wife. “Touchdown any second and the nightmare will be over.”

A video taken from a United Airlines flight shows damage to the plane's wing.
A video taken from a United Airlines flight shows damage to the plane's wing.

A video taken from a United Airlines flight shows damage to the plane's wing.

Another photo appearing to show the damage was posted by a purported passenger on Reddit as well.

Clarke told WMTW, a local Maine television station, that he had just started to doze off when he heard “this incredible loud vibration like I’ve never heard ... I was like, what was that? And it stopped within seconds.”

In a separate Facebook video, Clarke said the pilot came back to inspect the wing from the window. The pilot was later told by “headquarters” that it was still safe to fly but that they should change planes in Denver.

A United spokesperson confirmed in a statement to HuffPost that there was an issue with the slat on the wing. The flight carrying 165 passengers landed safely in Denver, and the passengers were placed on a different plane, which arrived in Boston later that night.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it is investigating the incident. A preliminary report released Wednesday said the slat broke off during departure. No injuries were reported.

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