US News
A Boeing 737-800 airliner lost an exterior panel mid-flight on Friday — the latest problem involving the manufacturer's aircraft that was discovered only when it landed at an Oregon airport, officials said.
United Airlines Flight 433 took off from San Francisco at 10:20 a.m. local time and landed safely at Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport 70 minutes later, airport officials said. Flight data.
As the flight approached the gate, an external crew was missing, halting operations at the airport while a runway safety check was conducted, airport director Amber Judd said in a statement.
According to United, there were no problems and no emergency was reported during the flight, which had 139 passengers and six crew members.
Airport staff searched the airport premises for the missing panel but could not find it.
“After finding that there was no debris at the airport, normal operations at the MFR resumed after a few minutes,” he said.
United Airlines said it planned a “thorough inspection” of the 25-year-old plane and would “make all necessary repairs before it returns to service.”
“We will conduct an investigation to better understand how this damage occurred,” the airline added.
The Federal Aviation Administration will also investigate the incident, a spokeswoman said.
Boeing declined to comment when contacted by The Post.
The frightening crash marks the seventh incident involving a Boeing aircraft in the past two weeks.
On Thursday, an American Airlines flight made an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday night due to a “possible mechanical problem” with the Boeing aircraft.
On Monday, a United Airlines flight from Sydney to San Francisco was forced to turn around mid-flight due to a hydraulic leak.
The Boeing 777-300 with 167 passengers and 16 crew members landed safely in Sydney.
Hours earlier, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner en route from Auckland, New Zealand to Sydney suffered a technical problem, injuring 50 passengers.
A United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Japan was diverted Los Angeles International Airport on March 7 when a Boeing 777-20's tire fell off after takeoff and damaged cars in the ground parking lot.
Boeing said in a memo to its employees Tuesday that it is implementing weekly compliance checks for each 737 work area and additional equipment audits to reduce quality issues.
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