A United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Boston was diverted to Denver on Monday after a passenger reportedly saw the “wing falling apart.”
“I’m just about to land in Denver and the wing of the plane is falling apart,” Kevin Clarke said in a video obtained by CBS News. “I can’t wait for this flight to be over.”
Photos of the damaged wing also surfaced on Reddit. “I was sitting directly on the wing and the noise after reaching altitude was much louder than normal. I opened the window and saw the wing looked like this,” user @octopus_hug wrote alongside a photo that appeared to show a plane wing with holes in it. “How panicked should I be? Do I need to tell a flight crew member?”
“I will be very relieved when we land,” they added.
The Reddit user said another passenger alerted flight crew to the problem before all passengers were transferred to another plane that landed in Boston early Tuesday morning.
A United Airlines spokesman confirmed that the Boeing 757-200 aircraft with 165 passengers on board was safely diverted to Denver on Monday “to repair a problem with the slat on the aircraft’s wing.”
“United Flight 354 was diverted to Denver yesterday afternoon to fix a problem with the slat on the aircraft’s wing,” the spokesman said. The Independent in a statement. “The flight landed safely and we have arranged for another aircraft to transport our customers to Boston.”
Boeing has been under scrutiny since a door panel on another aircraft type, a 737 Max 9, flew off during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.
The incident injured several passengers on board. The incident led to groundings for all Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft and prompted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate the aircraft manufacturer and Spirit AeroSystems, the manufacturer of the door stopper.
Reports published since then indicate that when the aircraft left the factory it did not have the critical bolts needed to hold the door stopper in place.
Following the incident, Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, which operate 79 of these aircraft, said they had also discovered loose screws on some of their planes.
Earlier this month, the head of the FAA promised to assign more personnel to oversee aircraft construction and hold Boeing accountable for any violations of safety regulations.
