United Airlines: Boeing plane forced to divert after worried passenger spots aircraft's wing 'breaking apart'

A United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Boston was diverted to Denver yesterday (Monday 20 February) after a worried passenger spotted the plane’s wing “breaking apart”. The passenger posted a picture of the plane’s wing on the platform Reddit showing holes forming in the metal. 

The passengers said: “Sitting right on the wing and the noise after reaching altitude was much louder than normal. I opened the window to see the wing looking like this. 

“How panicked should I be? Do I need to tell a flight crew member?”

The passenger then proceeded to post more pictures of the plane’s wing as the flight continued which showed the damage getting worse and worse. The passenger wrote: “Another passenger alerted the crew and we are being diverted. Looks even worse now, there’s a hole in the metal.”

A user responded to the post saying that it “looks like delamination of the composite on the trailing edge of the inboard slat” and “will cause a spoiling of the airflow on the wing near it”. The user added: “It is a serious problem worth diverting for, but you'll be ok.”

Another user responded: "At Denver Airport? I just overheard a United maintenance employee on the phone say 'someone posted a photo of the wing on Reddit'." The passenger replied: "And good, I’m glad they’ll be able to see all the different stages as it broke apart".

There were 165 passengers on board the Boeing 757-200 which landed safely in Denver. The passengers were put on a different plane and landed in Boston early Tuesday morning (21 February). Kevin Clarke, a passenger on the flight, said in a video shared with CBS News: "Just about to land in Denver with the wing coming apart on the plane. Can't wait for this flight to be over."

A spokesperson for United told WBZ-TV 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."

The incident comes after Boeing has been under intense scrutiny after a door panel on a different kind of aircraft, a 737 Max 9, blew off during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. Earlier this month, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration pledged to use more people to monitor aircraft manufacturing and hold Boeing accountable for any safety rule violations.