United Airways flight lands in Denver after turbulence damages wing

A passenger on the San Francisco-to-Boston flight Monday mentioned he had simply put in earbuds and began to nod off when he felt the airplane shaking.

“All of a sudden I heard this violent vibration like I had never heard before,” Kevin Clarke mentioned in an interview Tuesday.

Clarke mentioned one of many pilots walked down the aisle of the principle cabin, then returned to the cockpit and introduced that the airplane had minor harm to its proper wing and the flight could be diverted to Denver.

Clarke opened his window shade and took video of the harm that was later broadcast on Boston 25 Information. The 67-year-old, a ski-race announcer from Maine, was comforted that the pilot believed the airplane was adequate to fly, however he started having doubts when the jet hit turbulence.

Clark started checking the wing repeatedly, till he determined that he simply couldn’t look anymore.

“I was just going to pray that we made it to the other side of the turbulence,” he mentioned.

United mentioned the Boeing 757-200 carrying 165 passengers landed in Denver to “address an issue with the slat” on one in every of its wings. Slats are moveable panels on the entrance or vanguard of the wing and are used throughout takeoffs and landings. Chicago-based United didn’t say what triggered the harm which left items of the slat torn away.

The Federal Aviation Administration mentioned Tuesday that it’s investigating the incident.

The airplane landed safely in Denver, and passengers have been placed on a special airplane and arrived later within the day in Boston, in accordance with the airline.

The incident comes at a time of heightened passenger jitters after final month’s blowout of a door panel on an Alaska Airways jetliner flying over Oregon. The Nationwide Transportation Security Board mentioned in a preliminary report that bolts designed to stop the panel from transferring have been lacking on the Boeing 737 Max 9 jet.