A United Airlines Boeing 737-800 aircraft arriving from San Francisco landed safely at Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport in Oregon on Friday, March 15th, 2024, but was found to be missing an external panel after parking at the gate.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that United Airlines flight UA-433, carrying 139 passengers and 6 crew members, landed at around 11:30 AM (local time) with no incident or emergency reported during the flight.
However, a post-landing inspection by the airline revealed that a panel from the left wing root fairing near the main landing gear was missing from the aircraft.
In a statement, United Airlines said:
We’ll conduct a thorough examination of the plane and perform all the needed repairs before it returns to service.
Airport officials at Medford stated that operations were briefly paused to inspect the runway, but no debris was found on the airfield. The missing panel itself was located within the airport perimeter.
The FAA has stated it will investigate the incident involving the 25-year-old 737-800 aircraft. This comes amidst heightened scrutiny on Boeing after recent manufacturing issues, including a door blowout on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX flight in January that prompted an FAA audit uncovering multiple quality control lapses at Boeing.
While no passengers were injured, the missing panel episode adds to a series of concerning incidents involving Boeing aircraft in recent weeks, ranging from cracked windshields to runway excursions, that have raised questions about the company’s safety oversight and manufacturing processes.
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