Hearing that a door or panel fell off a plane mid-flight this time last year would have probably seemed ridiculous. Lately, it’s becoming a more common sort of headline – and one CEO wants passengers to know that his company is looking into the issue.
According to CNN, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby issued a message to customers Monday morning following a fresh new report of a panel falling off a Boeing 737 flight. It departed from San Francisco International Airport and landed at around 11:30 a.m. Friday at Medford Airport in Oregon.
CNN noted that the plane that lost the panel was purchased by Boeing in 1998, and that “quality issues almost certainly have nothing to do with that incident.”
Earlier this year, a door plug flew off an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 before it landed in Portland, Ore., leading to an investigation and temporary grounding of planes. A preliminary report has been issued by the National Transportation Safety Board on the incident, but it is subject to change.
As the investigation into the Alaska Airlines flight continues, there have been continued reports through the Federal Aviation Administration of issues related to Boeing aircraft. Audacy has also reported on investigations into the manufacturer, including a Department of Justice investigation; interviewed a pilot about the company’s planes; reported that the company couldn’t find records about the flight and covered an investigation into the death of a Boeing whistleblower.
Included in the list of Boeing plane accidents and incidents reported by the FAA this month were multiple that occurred on United Airlines flights.
“While they are all unrelated, I want you to know that these incidents have our attention and have sharpened our focus,” Kirby said in his memo.
In addition to the plane that landed in Medford, the FAA-reported incidents related to United flights manufactured by Boeing included United Airlines Flight 1816, which landed safely at San Francisco International Airport around 7:35 a.m. last Thursday after the crew reported a possible hydraulic issue. There was also a report of a cracked windshield, a blown tire, gear issues and an engine issue.
“Our team is reviewing the details of each case to understand what happened and using those insights to inform our safety training and procedures across all employee groups,” Kirby explained.
In a January press conference, NTSB Board chair Jennifer Homendy said that air crews were expected to get more extensive training manuals about Boeing flights following the Alaska Airlines incident. United leadership said this week that the company is adding an extra day to pilot training. CNN also reported that Kirby is interested in buying more planes from Boeing competitor Airbus.
“Passengers seeing a series of bad headlines about the airline and its Boeing jets may consider booking away from the airline,” said CNN of United. It added that “as of the end of last year, 81% of the jets that United uses on its mainline operations came from Boeing, compared to just over half the jets in the mainline fleets of rivals Delta and American airlines.”