The United flight from Maui got here inside 800 toes of the hanging Pacific Ocean

In December, a few minute after a United Airways flight took off from Maui’s Kahului Airport, the aircraft, a Boeing 777-200, went right into a steep dive, coming inside 775 toes of the floor of the Pacific Ocean, in response to flight information .

The aircraft had initially climbed to an altitude of two,200 toes earlier than all of the sudden crashing at a velocity of practically 8,600 toes per minute, in response to The Air Present, which reported the episode on Sunday after analyzing information from the Dec. 18 flight.

The flight, which didn’t look like a lot mentioned on social media, left Maui on the identical day that 36 individuals had been injured, 11 of them critically, when a Hawaiian Airways flight from Phoenix to Honolulu was rocked by extreme turbulence.

Joshua Freed, a spokesman for United Airways, declined to say what number of passengers had been on United Flight 1722 when it departed Maui at 2:49 p.m. native time on December 18. The Boeing 777-200 can carry 312 passengers.

Mr Freed mentioned on Monday that the aircraft had no mechanical issues however declined to touch upon the potential causes for the aircraft’s crash.

The pilots filed the “affordable security report” after the aircraft safely arrived at its vacation spot in San Francisco, Mr. Freed mentioned.

“Security stays our prime precedence,” Mr Freed mentioned in an announcement, including that United Airways has “labored intently with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Air Line Pilots Affiliation” to analyze the matter.

The pilots, who collectively have about 25,000 hours of flight time, are receiving further coaching, Mr Freed mentioned. He declined to elaborate on what sort of coaching the pilots obtain.

Michael McCormick, a former FAA management tower operator and assistant professor of aeronautical sciences at Embry-Riddle College, known as this quantity of flight expertise “common” for skilled flight crew. He additionally mentioned the swoop was “very atypical and really critical.”

An FAA spokesman mentioned the pilots voluntarily reported the incident to the company’s Aviation Security Motion Program. These studies are confidential, the spokesman mentioned, including that the company opinions the filings after which “directs any obligatory modifications.”

The Air Line Pilots Affiliation couldn’t be instantly reached for remark Monday.

Specialists mentioned that whereas the episode was worrying, it highlighted the important thing position the Aviation Security Motion Program performs in guaranteeing safer skies.

Ross Feinstein, a former spokesman for each the Transportation Safety Administration and American Airways, harassed that with out this program, the episode may by no means have been launched to officers in any respect.

“And the rationale ASAP is so profitable is that it encourages voluntary reporting,” Mr. Feinstein mentioned. “Questions of safety beneath this program are usually resolved by corrective motion reasonably than punishment or disciplining, additional enhancing flight security.

United Airways was not required to report the incident to the Nationwide Transportation Security Board, Mr. Freed mentioned. Within the occasion of plane collisions, runway incursions and mechanical defects, the investigating authority have to be knowledgeable in response to federal regulation.

An NTSB official mentioned the company realized concerning the United Flight 1722 episode by media studies and isn’t investigating the incident.

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