Summary
- A United Airlines Boeing 777-200ER experienced an engine issue during its flight from Rome, resulting in a safe return to the Italian capital.
- The flight faced a nearly five-hour delay, but the aircraft was swiftly replaced, and passengers could carry on their journey toward the US capital.
- This incident adds to recent technical problems, but United Airlines has a vast fleet, and such incidents remain extremely rare, with thousands of flights happening daily.
On April 5, 2024, a 24-year-old United Airlines Boeing 777-200ER registered as N209UA, powered by two Pratt & Whitney PW4090, took off from Rome’s Fiumicino (FCO) airport bound for Washington Dulles Airport (IAD) at 10:20. Planespotters.net suggests that the aircraft was delivered new to the airline in December 1999 and has remained with the operator throughout its flying career.
According to The Aviation Herald, the airplane lifted off from runway 25, and as it climbed through 2500ft, a loud bang could be heard, followed by a streak of flames. It was suspected to have suffered a compressor stall. This prompted the crew to stop the climb at 4000ft. They then briefly performed holding patterns to burn off excess fuel and landed back in the Italian capital at 11:21. There were no reported injuries during this incident.
Simple Flying contacted United Airlines and Pratt & Whitney but has not received an immediate response.
If you are interested in looking at an animation of what this failure looks like, you should check out this video.
Flight UA885
Let’s look at the aircraft’s routing during the incident. The aircraft took off from the Italian hub and headed towards the Mediterranean Sea. It was initially headed towards Sardinia and Corsica, following the field flight plan to Washington, DC. However, three minutes after taking off, it turned left, following the coast until it reached the National Park of Bracciano Martignano, where it entered two holding patterns and headed inland, and following the approach into runway 16R, where the Boeing 777 safely touched down after roughly 50 minutes in the air.
According to data from Flightradar24, the aircraft is still on the ground in Rome and is due to fly to San Francisco on the 7th of April at 4 pm local time. A replacement aircraft, already on the ground at FCO after flying in from San Fransisco earlier in the day, took over flight 885, which departed four hours later at 17:16, bringing the total delay to just shy of five hours.
Photo: Flightradar24
Recent technical issues at United
Unfortunately, the American legacy carrier has recently seen several other technical issues. On March 28th, another Boeing 777-200ER, the pilot decided to divert to Denver, Colorado, shortly after takeoff, out of an abundance of caution. After the aircraft experienced engine issues, it landed safely, and all passengers could leave the aircraft without any further problems.
Related
Not Again: United Airlines Boeing 777 Makes Emergency Landing In Denver
It’s adding to the growing list of technical troubles at United.
The 777-200ER isn’t the only aircraft that has recently suffered engine issues with the airline; on 4 March, a Boeing 757-300 experienced an engine failure while flying over the Pacific Ocean on a scheduled flight from Hawaii to California. Despite the engine troubles, the Boeing jet continued its journey to the mainland United States, and no passenger injuries or fatalities were reported.
Bottom Line
While United Airlines has been making headlines recently for technical issues involving its fleet, readers should remember that the operator has over 900 aircraft in their fleet, and every day, thousands of United flights take off and land without any issues. Flying remains the safest means of travel because airlines learn from every incident, and pilots and cabin crew are regularly trained should an improbable event of an in-flight emergency occur.
