"Flying is scary these days”: Internet reacts to viral video of wing coming apart on a United Airlines flight that made an emergency landing

A United Airlines aircraft headed from San Francisco to Boston was rerouted to Denver on Monday, February 19, 2024, due to passengers reporting that some portions of the plane's wing were chipped. It made an emergency landing right after the issue was spotted.

Following the incident, the Boeing 757-200 of United Airlines, carrying 165 passengers, made a safe landing in Denver. Passenger Kevin Clarke told WHDH that he started recording the incident as soon as he saw the damaged wing.

Clarke informed the Associated Press that before declaring that the flight would be diverted to Denver, one of the pilots had strolled down the aisle of the aircraft. The pilot then informed everyone that the wing problem was discovered after takeoff from San Francisco.

In a video that CBS News was able to get, Kevin Clarke stated:

“Just about to land in Denver with the wing coming apart on the plane. Can’t wait for this flight to be over.”

Once the video went viral on many social networking platforms including X and Facebook, internet users took to these platforms to react to the video and criticize the airlines.

Netizens react to the viral video (Image via Facebook/Joy Tarbell)

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Internet reacts as the video of the United Airlines plane wings coming apart went viral

On a United Airlines cross-country flight, a passenger recorded the plane's damaged wing and forced the plane to make an emergency landing. Kevin Clarke reported that almost 3,200 kilometers from its intended destination, the jet made an emergency landing. Clarke also captured the faulty right wing on camera.

In the video, a plane wing featuring a tip in dark blue was seen descending onto a runway. The wing looked ragged where the slat seemed to have split off. As per South China Morning Post, a few individuals wearing orange vests with the logo "tech ops" appeared to be fixing the United Airlines plane wing in another segment of the footage.

Meanwhile, once the video of the entire incident was uploaded on X, it went viral. Netizens then took to the platform to express their opinions.

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As per News18, addressing the issue with the plane, Clarke said in the video:

“They’ve got another plane waiting for us. Touchdown any second, and the nightmare will be over.”

He further told WCVB that he heard "this incredible loud vibration" immediately before the wheels came up. He also told the outlet:

“It was like, what was that?”

He then told NBC Boston that about 45 minutes into the flight, the pilot of the United Airlines plane entered the cabin to assess the damage. Addressing the passengers, the pilot said:

“He goes behind me and I was kind of sleepy, so I wasn’t paying much attention at that point, but then he goes back to the cockpit and he comes on the PA and says, ‘We’ve discovered we have some damage on one of the front flaps and we’re going to divert to Denver and put you all in a different plane.'”

On the other hand, according to the CBS News, the airline said in a statement:

“United Flight 354 diverted to Denver yesterday afternoon to address an issue with the slat on the wing of the aircraft. The flight landed safely and we arranged for another aircraft to take our customers to Boston.”

Nevertheless, sources like News 18 have reported that according to United Airlines, the aircraft made a safe landing in Denver at 5:15 pm local time, and the passengers were transferred to a different flight. Furthermore, there were no injuries.

On the other hand, as per Business Insider, the Federal Aviation Administration said that the incident is being looked into. An instant response was not received from the FAA to a request for comment.