We know that hard landings can be unpleasant - and even hazardous for those onboard an
aircraft. But typically, airframes are designed to handle hard landings…welll…within limits.
A recent incident out of Houston saw a landing so hard that it resulted some wrinkles and
tears to the fuselage! Let’s look at this United Airlines Boeing 767 incident for today’s video!
A Boeing 767-300ER belonging to United Airlines suffered significant damage following a hard
landing at Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The aircraft was operating flight UA702,
which connects Houston with another major United hub at Newark Liberty International Airport.
On Saturday, July 29th, the 767-300ER touched down in Houston on runway
two-six-left at 10:34 local time, just over three hours after leaving Newark.
The time in the air was uneventful. Indeed, for anyone monitoring the flight from outside
the aircraft, the landing and taxi to the gate would have appeared uneventful as well.
While there were no reports of injuries among the 193 passengers and 11 crew members onboard,
there was apparently substantial damage sustained by the 767-300ER.
This included wrinkling and tearing in the fuselage.
The aircraft in question is registered as N641UA. At the time of this video’s production,
data from FlightRadar24.com shows that the aircraft is still on the
ground in Houston several days after the incident.
It was delivered new to United Airlines in April 1991, making it over 32 years old. In fact,
this airframe is the airline's oldest 767-300ER. Indeed, the aircraft is one of 37 767-300ERs
in the carrier's fleet, seating 203 passengers in a three-class configuration.
The specific contributing factors and cause of the hard landing, whether there were human,
weather, or equipment-related factors involved, is not yet known,
and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is currently investigating the incident.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has logged this incident. As reported by
the Aviation Herald the FAA states that the aircraft quote “made a hard
landing and post-flight inspection revealed damage to the fuselage, Houston, Texas."
When contacted by Simple Flying, United Airlines gave the following response:
"United flight 702 landed in Houston on Saturday,
and all customers deplaned normally. We’re working with the NTSB and FAA
and conducting our own investigation to understand the details of this landing."
The carrier added that the aircraft quote "remains parked in Houston
and is not currently scheduled for any flights."
With such severe damage to a 32-year-old aircraft,
whether United Airlines will choose to repair or retire this 767-300ER remains to be seen.
In addition to its aging 777-200s, United Airlines' 767-300ER fleet will be retired
by 2030 and replaced by the 787. The carrier has 100 787s on order,
including all three variants, the 787-8, 787-9, and 787-10.
Have you been on a flight that has experienced
a particularly hard landing? Share your experiences by commenting below.
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