It was a harrowing flight for 363 United Airlines passengers as an engine began to fall apart while en route to Hawaii.
On its way from San Francisco to Honolulu yesterday, the flight UA 1175, a Boeing 777 continued for 45 minutes after the engine cover ripped off and was forced to make an emergency landing.
Passengers on board were terrified, telling media that there was a loud sound and the plane shook violently.
“There was a loud boom and then it was like rattling and the plane was kind of shaking like boom, boom, boom,” passenger Allison Sudiacal told Hawaii News Now.
Another passenger Lori Shanks told KHON2 “I grabbed (my son) Jack, and I put him in the seat and I buckled him in, and he started crying and then it was nonstop shaking.”
Maria Falaschi, a marketing consultant from San Francisco, posted on Twitter saying it was the “scariest flight of my life.”
Scariest flight of my life #ua1175 pic.twitter.com/hjCvrJ9VwV
— Maria Falaschi (@mfalaschi) February 13, 2018
Erik Haddad, an UX engineer at Google, shared pictures of the damaged engine as well as a video on Twitter
I don't see anything about this in the manual ✈️#ua1175 pic.twitter.com/yTECg9fxZw
— Erik Haddad (@erikhaddad) February 13, 2018
that looks bad, plane and simple ✈️ #ua1175 pic.twitter.com/EKXUxDBw9q
— Erik Haddad (@erikhaddad) February 13, 2018
Pilots declared an emergency and warned Honolulu International Airport’s ground crew. In the end, the plane landed safely.
United Airlines sent a statement immediately after the landing:
"United flight 1175 traveling to Honolulu from San Francisco landed safely after the pilots called for an emergency landing because of a loss of the engine cowling (the covering of the engine). Our pilots followed all necessary protocols to safely land the aircraft. The aircraft taxied to the gate and passengers deplaned normally."
The airline also stated it is cooperating with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration to investigate the incident.
