A United Airlines flight went off a runway at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Friday morning, forcing passengers to evacuate — in the latest drama involving a Boeing jet.
The Boeing 737 MAX 8, which arrived from Memphis, “rolled onto the grass when exiting onto the taxiway around 8 a.m.,” the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
“The passengers deplaned on the taxiway and were bused to the terminal,” the FAA added.
No injuries were reported among the 160 passengers and six crew members, who used stairs to exit the plane, according to reports. Airport operations were unaffected, officials said.
Video from the airport shows the aircraft tilting to one side with the left wing touching the ground off the runway. A group of passengers is seen getting on a bus on the tarmac.
“As it was exiting the runway for the gate, the aircraft left the pavement and entered the grass along Runway 9-27,” United told Click2Houston in a statement.
One of the passengers said the landing felt smooth, but that he felt bumps during the taxi.
”Felt like when you have a flat tire in a car,” the unidentified passenger told the outlet.
The Houston Fire Department and Houston Airport Operations responded and safely evacuated all the passengers.
Friday’s incident was the third involving a United plane this week.
On Thursday, a Japan-bound flight was forced to divert to Los Angeles International Airport when the plane lost a tire after taking off in San Francisco.
The falling landing gear damaged several cars in the parking lot of San Francisco International Airport after the Boeing 777-20 took off around 11:30 a.m., officials said.
The plane, carrying 235 passengers and 14 crew members, landed safely at LAX. No injuries were reported.
Catch up on Boeing's ongoing airplane fiasco
Boeing has recently been plagued by safety concerns that began Jan. 5 after a door panel blew off a Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet during a flight from Oregon to California. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the plane — which was operated by Alaska Airlines — appeared to be missing four key bolts.
Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines, threatened to shun Boeing after the carrier’s fleet of MAX 9 aircraft was grounded in the wake of the near-disastrous Alaska Airlines door blowout.
Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, warned that another midair door blowout like the Boeing 737 MAX 9 fiasco “can happen again,” adding there was a “problem with the process” of production.
Disaster struck again a week after the initial incident when a Boeing plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Japan due to a crack in the cockpit window.
A Boeing 757 lost its front tire as the aircraft was preparing to depart for an international flight in late January. At Atlanta International Airport, a Delta flight bound for Bogota, Colombia, was taxiing across the runway into takeoff position when another plane alerted the control tower that something was amiss.
Later, a UK passenger was alarmed after noticing pieces of tape on the exterior of a Boeing 787 during a flight to India, as seen in shocking photos.
A United Airlines Boeing 777-300 aircraft suffered a midair fuel leak and was forced to make an emergency landing Monday, March 11, marking the fifth incident the airline reported in a little over a week.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary previously said he’s made “loud complaints” to Boeing over quality control.
Whistleblower John Barnett raised safety concerns at the airline’s factories and provided his first testimony at a bombshell lawsuit against Boeing. He was found dead in his truck after he failed to show up for the second part of his testimony on Monday.
On Monday, a flight was forced to make an emergency landing back in Houston just minutes after it took off for Fort Myers, Florida, when flames could be seen coming out of an engine.
No one was injured.
Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating an incident involving a United Boeing 737 MAX 8 whose rudder pedals got stuck as the plane touched down at Newark Liberty International Airport on Feb. 6, Bloomberg News reported.
After the flight carrying 155 passengers and six crew members landed, the pilots said the pedals wouldn’t move, according to the outlet, which cited an NTSB report released Thursday.
During a test three days later, the rudder became stuck again, so the airline notified the NTSB.
No “obvious malfunctions” were discovered on the rudder system during an initial examination, but tests simulating low temperatures at high altitudes showed a failure could result, according to the agency.
The system has performed without any problems after the rudder control components were replaced.
A separate rudder issue on earlier 737 models resulted in two fatal crashes in the 1990s, in which 157 people were killed, according to Bloomberg.
The NTSB found in those incidents that a rare failure could cause the rudder to swing to one side, making the planes difficult to control. The affected parts have been redesigned.
In January, an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 carrying 177 people lost a door plug over Oregon during a flight to California, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing.
The FAA has ordered all MAX 9 jets grounded and launched a safety investigation. The agency also announced an audit of the plane’s production line and suppliers “to evaluate Boeing’s compliance with its approved quality procedures.”
