A United Airlines flight made an emergency landing in Honolulu on Tuesday after the casing around one of its engines ripped apart mid-air over the Pacific Ocean, Reuters reported. The flight had over 370 people on board, but landed safely around 12.40 pm local time (4.10 am Wednesday Indian time).
The aircraft was travelling from San Francisco to Honolulu. A loud bang was heard about 35 minutes before the flight was scheduled to land in Honolulu, after which the pilots sent out a distress call, The Guardian reported. Passengers reported seeing pieces of metal flying after the noise. By the time the plane landed, the engine was bare, according to The New York Times.
A video uploaded on Twitter by a Google engineer who was on the flight showed the engine shaking, with its covering missing. A San Francisco-based marketing consultant wrote on Twitter that it was the “scariest flight of my life”.
Airline officials were unable to immediately say whether the engine on the Boeing 777 aircraft continued to function after the cowling came off. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident. United Airlines said it was “fully cooperating” with the investigation.
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