3 Emergency Landings Put Focus United’s Fleet
United Airlines says it is conducting a thorough review
this morning of three weekend incidents that left hundreds of passengers
stranded and some wondering whether the airline’s rocky merger with Continental
has undermined its operations.
Since their merger two years ago, the two airlines have
combined operations this year. Since 2010, the new United has suffered a rash
of bad publicity and now has the worst records in the industry for delays.
In June, the last month for which the government released
data, United passengers filed nearly 600 complaints. That’s five times higher
than its nearest competitor and five times higher than before the merger.
“We’ve seen this huge spike in customer complaints,” ABC News
aviation consultant Steve Ganyard said. “Now that we’re seeing a rash of
in-flight emergencies, the FAA is going to want to ask are they having the same
problem integrating their maintenance.”
United Flight 96 heading from New Jersey’s Newark Airport
to Berlin was reportedly forced to make an emergency landing Saturday when a
tire burst and the debris was sucked into one of the plane’s engines.
Witnesses on the ground said they saw fire coming from
the Boeing 757′s engine as they watched in suspense. “I ran to the window,
looked outside, saw the airplane and saw fire coming out,” D’Jenaba Johnson
Jones said.
Alex Jackson said, “As it was elevating, I noticed that
there was a flame spitting out of the left engine; it was kind of going like
pop-pop- pop-pop.”
Cellphone video showed the plane circling for two hours
and 15 minutes to burn off fuel before all 173 passengers and crew members
landed safely back at Newark Airport.
“The crew followed standard procedures in returning to
Newark, where the airplane landed safely,” United Airlines officials said in a
statement Saturday.
United Flight 409 had to return to Newark Sunday morning
after the pilot reported smoke in the cockpit. The Boeing 757 was bound for
Seattle. And United Flight 1124 bound for Boston had to return to Houston a few
hours later because of engine problems.
“The question is, how well is maintenance being done on
those airplanes?” Ganyard said. “Is it a coincidence or is there a greater
underlying problem that needs to be investigated.”
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