An inspection of the plane after it landed at Medford Airport in Oregon on Friday revealed that an exterior panel was missing. No emergency was declared during the flight.
The incident is of no consequence, but Boeing, in turmoil since the start of the year, would undoubtedly have been better off without it. An investigation at Oregon’s Medford Airport on Friday afternoon revealed that a United Airlines Boeing 737-800 was missing an exterior panel.
The plane, in service for 25 years, took off from San Francisco at 1:45 p.m. local time (10:45 p.m. French time) before landing at Rogue Valley-Medford Airport. At that time there were 6 crew members and 139 passengers on board.
A sign near the landing gear
The missing outer panel was near the landing gear, where the wing meets the plane’s fuselage, United Airlines said.
According to a United Airlines spokesman contacted by The Associated Press, no emergency was declared because there were no signs of damage during the flight. The Medford airport, however, had to suspend operations while it investigated whether there was debris on the tarmac, said its director Amber Judd.
“We will thoroughly inspect the aircraft and make any necessary repairs before returning it to service,” the company explained in a statement. “We will also conduct an investigation to better understand how this damage occurred.” The Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA, also said it was investigating the sign’s disappearance.
After seeing its reputation tarnished by production problems since 2023, Boeing has experienced a black streak since January with the mid-flight loss of a cap holder by one of its 737 MAX 9s.
On January 19, an Atlas Air 747 freighter made an emergency landing in Miami (Florida) after an “engine fire” shortly after takeoff. In late February, United Airlines pilots reported that the rudder pedals of their 737 MAX stuck after landing in Newark, New Jersey, and on March 7, a Boeing 777 made an emergency landing in Los Angeles, California. .
An investigation was launched after a 787 Dreamliner belonging to the Chilean company Latum suddenly lost altitude in New Zealand on Tuesday, injuring numerous passengers. Boeing reminded airlines operating 787 Dreamliners to monitor certain buttons in the cockpit as a “precaution”.
According to the Wall Street Journal, which cited American sources in the airline sector, the latest incident was caused by ineptitude on board staff. A cabin crew member allegedly touched a button on the pilot’s seat while serving food and inadvertently activated a motorized device that threw the pilot against the controls and caused the plane to nose down.
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