A panel was discovered missing on a United Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft Friday after landing at its destination, according to KRON4.
United Flight 433 departed from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) around 10:20 a.m. and landed at its intended destination in Medford, Oregon around 11:34 a.m., according to FlightAware. However, after arriving at the Rogue Valley International Medford Airport, officials discovered the plane was missing a panel. (RELATED: REPORT: United Airlines Requests Boeing To Cease Production Of Max 10 Jets The Airline Initially Purchased)
Medford airport officials told KRON4 that no damage to the plane was reported, and United did not declare an emergency landing since there had been no indication of damage to the plane during the trip.
“This afternoon, United Flight 433 landed safely at its scheduled destination at Rogue Valley International/Medford Airport. After the aircraft was parked at the gate, it was discovered to be missing an external panel. We’ll conduct a thorough examination of the plane and perform all the needed repairs before it returns to service. We’ll also conduct an investigation to better understand how this damage occurred,” a spokesperson for United Airlines told the outlet.
#Breaking — KRON 4 has confirmed — Just after noon today a United Airlines Boeing 737 plane taking off from SFO landed in Medford with a missing panel.
Medford airport officials say the missing panel was not found. No injuries to passengers. Airport operations back to normal. pic.twitter.com/XSuDtXG1wD
— Stephanie Lin (@StephanieLinTV) March 15, 2024
The incident follows a series of recent similar issues for the major airline and Boeing aircraft. In early March, video footage captured a United Airlines flight, confirmed to be a Boeing 777-200 aircraft, bound for Japan, losing one of its six tires shortly after taking off from SFO. Another United Airlines Boeing incident was captured on video, showing the aircraft’s left wing bursting into flames, forcing the flight into an emergency landing.
Boeing aircraft have been under the spotlight since video footage surfaced in January of a large window section in an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max-9 aircraft ejecting shortly after takeoff. The infamous incident triggered an investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which recently found a series of issues with Boeing.
The six-week audit found that both Boeing and one of its principal suppliers, Spirit AeroSystems, did not comply with essential quality-control standards. Boeing passed only 56 of 89 product audits and failed 33 audits with 97 noncompliance instances. Since the release of the report, the FAA has given Boeing 90 days to come up with a plan to address the issues.