​United Airlines Flight Forced To Make Emergency Landing After Engine Starts Disintegrating

A United Airlines flight had to make an emergency landing in Hawaii on Tuesday after a cover on one of its engines began disintegrating mid-flight.

The flight was travelling over the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco, with 363 passengers and 10 crew members on board, KHNL reported.

"There was a loud bang... and then the plane really started shaking," said passenger Allison Sudiacal, who was travelling with her husband, four-month-old son and parents-in-law.

"It was like rattling and the plane was kind of shaking like 'boom, boom, boom'."

In a statement, United Airlines said its pilots 'followed all necessary protocols to safely land the aircraft'.

Sudiacal's husband, Tim, referred to the flight as 'absolutely terrifying'.

The drama on board started after a loud bang was heard, around 35 minutes before the flight was supposed to be landing in Honolulu. After the worrying noise, pilots immediately sent out a distress call before making the emergency landing.

Thankfully, the Boeing 777-222 plane was able to touch down safely, and there were no reports of any injuries.

In a statement, the state Transportation Department explained the flight landed safely with Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting personnel standing by as a precaution. The department added that, miraculously, the incident also didn't spur any delays at the airport.

According to KHNL, audio of the plane's conversation with air traffic control in Honolulu just before landing includes the pilot telling them: "If you haven't already, roll the fire trucks."

Air traffic control then replies: "They will be standing by."

Another passenger on board was Maria Falaschi, who tweeted: "Scariest flight of my life."

In later comments, she added that the pilots and crew 'did a great job', also saying that 'they did everything to prepare us' and that 'they handled it well'.

But one person travelling, who had a clear view of the exposed engine, somehow managed to find a bit of humour in the slightly hairy moment.

Google engineer Erik Haddad uploaded several photos to Twitter throughout the incident - quipping one of him holding the emergency procedure pamphlet while looking out at the plane's dodgy engine with: "I don't see anything about this in the manual."

In another, he posted a video and said: "That looks bad, plane and simple".

Now he sounds like the kind of guy we'd like to have around in a crisis.

Topics: News, United Airlines, US News

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman